Starless Night
by Captain-Spangled
Summary: Alex doesn't seem to be catching a break. With the pressure to be turned into a vampire over her head, will she continue to stand her ground or will she give in to help protect the ones she loves? At least Jacob and the Pack have her back. Add the threat of an army of newborns and you have a complete shit-storm of a situation. Jacob/OC
1. Time Flies- Part One

**Chapter One: Time Flies – Part One**

**\- MARCH 10th -**

The loud roar of the truck's engine was the only thing I could hear even though it was raining heavily outside. The sound of it was comforting, easing my stress of driving in such terrible conditions as well as calming my mind. Well, a little bit anyway. It was Saturday, almost noon, and it was already turning out to be a crappy day for me. But then again, with the week I was having, what else could be expected?

I had just woken up and gone downstairs to get some breakfast when Charlie thought it would be a good time to spring the news on me. Leslie's dad had reported both her and her mother as missing yesterday. He said he would have told me sooner, but I had gone over to Jacob's' after school and hadn't gotten back until late. He then started telling me how they were going to find her and her mom, but by that point I was no longer listening; I had gone numb. My best friend was missing. Sure it had been a while since I had last talked to her, but that was because she had been visiting her brother and I was dealing with stupid vampire shit.

My heart dropped to the bottom of my stomach as my mind tried to process this new bit of information. I was going through some major crap at the moment what with having to pick sides between monster movies that came to life and ending up on opposite sides as my sister. Sure I couldn't exactly tell her everything that was going on, but I could have made something up. I needed someone on my side! Jacob was the one I had chosen so he wasn't a good one to confide in, the pack was out for similar reasons, I was on opposite sides with my sister who had chosen the vampires which meant the Cullen's were out as well, and dad didn't count because he shouldn't have to choose between his two daughters. A girl's best friend is the only one that she can really count on in a situation like this (or the made up situation I would have told her).

A stab of guilt ran through me. My best friend was missing, possibly hurt, and I here I was worrying about myself. I was a terrible person! I sat stiffly at the table and listened to the sound of my father's voice until he finished talking. He sat there for a moment, looking at me before sighing and rising from the table. Coming close, he rested a hand to my shoulder for a moment, giving it a quick squeeze, before leaving the kitchen to give me some space.

And that's why I was driving to Emily's in this shitty weather. After sitting at the table for a few long minutes, I decided that I couldn't be still any longer. I didn't want to be in the house either, so without even thinking about it I grabbed the keys to the truck, shoved my feet into some boots and walked out the door. I drove the now familiar route to Emily's, parking across from her front door.

I hadn't even turned the engine off when Jacob came running outside to meet me. Even through the heavy rain I could see the large grin on his face.

"Lexi!" he called, pulling open the driver's side door and carefully lifting me out before spinning me around. It's only been two days and he seemed over the moon since I had chosen him.

I held on tight to him, burying my head in his neck. "Oh, Jacob."

Jacob stopped spinning me, picking up easily on my stumbling voice. Setting me on my feet, he bent down and placed both hands on the side of my face, meeting my eyes.

"What's wrong?"

I blinked hard, partially to keep the tears from falling, but mainly because of the rain running into my eyes. "It's, it's Leslie. She's missing."

"Wait, what? Leslie? Are you sure?"

I nodded my head. "Charlie just told me not even an hour ago."

Jacob's hands left my face and soon I was in his arms once again. "Oh Lexi, I am so sorry."

"I just can't believe this is happening. Why her!" I wanted to scream and shout. Leslie had been my first friend it Forks, she was my best friend, and she didn't deserve to be taken by someone for god knows what reason.

"Hey now, this is Leslie we're talking about. She can annoy her way out of anything. The person who took her might be realizing that right now and be giving her back," Jacob teased, trying to lighten the mood.

But I wasn't having it.

"This is really not the time for you to make jokes about my best friend," I warned, pulling my head from his shoulder and glaring.

Jacob was quiet for a moment before shaking his head. "Let's talk about this more inside. You're shivering."

Even being held in his heat radiating arms, the cold rain was getting to me. My hair was plastered to my face and my sweats and shirt were soaked. I just nodded my head as Jacob sat me back on my feet before leading me into Emily's house where all the wolves were sitting around the table. They must have been having a late breakfast because a mountain of both pancakes and what looked like French Toast, as well as bowls of fruit, were covering the table.

"Hi, guys," I muttered weakly, giving a small wave as they all turned to look at Jacob and I.

"You stay here and I'll go get you some clothes to change into," Jacob promised before disappearing around a corner.

"So, little sister, why were you and lover boy outside so long. You do know it's raining, right?" Paul asked a smirk on his face. Ever since I since I picked side werewolf over side vampire, he's been calling me 'little sister' and teasing Jake and me big time.

"Man, don't you get it, they were having a moment," Jared goaded as well, throwing a grape at Paul's head. "I bet it was some cheesy teen romance stuff too. Damn, knew I should have gotten my camera."

Not in the mood, I just shot them both a glare. Emily, the amazing woman that she was, seemed to pick up on my not so usual behavior. Acting like the mom that she more or less was of the pack, she gave to two boys a quick scolding before making her way over to me.

"Is everything alright, Alex?"

"Yeah," I said, starting to nod my head before realizing that I could open up to these guys. "No, actually, it's not."

I was just about to tell her what happened when Jacob came back.

"So, these are going to be big, but they were all I could find. Our stockpile hasn't really been built up yet." He handed me a pair of black sweat pants, gray boxers, and a dark blue t-shirt. "Don't worry, they're all clean."

I looked down at the three articles of clothing for a moment before looking up and giving Jacob a small smile. Getting up on my tiptoes, I kissed his cheek before carefully, so as not to get too much water all over Emily's floor, making my way into the nearest bathroom. Once inside, I stood there for a moment just looking at my reflection in the mirror. My clothes and hair were still wet and my eyes and nose were almost a bright red. I looked like a mess.

Looking down at the sink, I turned on the hot water and let it run for a moment before sticking my hands under the warm stream. Making a cup with my hands, I captured some of the water before lowering my head and transferring the water from my hands to my face. I repeated this action a couple of times before looking at my face once more in the mirror. Now my whole face was red but I think I looked (and felt) a bit better. Turning the water off, I grabbed a towel from a nearby hook and used it to dry my face.

When finished, I sat the towel on the back of the toilet before tackling the soon to be joy that would be taking off my wet clothes. I was not looking forward to the feeling of pulling the wet fabric from my skin. But I did it, balling up the wet PJ's I had been wearing once I had changed into the boy's borrowed clothes. As to be expected, everything was large and baggy on me, but I made it work. With wet clothes in hand, I opened the bathroom door where Emily was waiting close by.

"Let me take those wet clothes for you. I'll throw them in the dryer while you join the boys at the table," she said softly. Slowly, I stretched out my arms and gave her my clothes. "I made some fresh French Toast for you. When I get back you can tell me what happened."

"Thanks, Emily." I gave her a small smile before heading back into the kitchen/ eating area.

The boys had started eating again, but stopped abruptly when I came around the corner. I stood there awkwardly for a moment before walking towards the table and taking a seat in what was quickly becoming my spot between Jacob and Paul.

"Feeling better, little sister?" Paul asked, slinging his arm around my shoulders and pulling me close.

"A little." I rested my head against his shoulder for a moment before pulling away and looking at the food in front of me. Like all of Emily's food, the French Toast in front of me smelled amazing.

I don't know about you, but food always makes me feel better. So I drizzled some syrup over the top before picking up my fork and slowly starting to cut off a small chunk of bread and placing it in my mouth. I was just swallowing when Emily returned.

There was a short silence before I told them all what had happened. Jacob, already knowing what was going on, reached out and grabbed my hand under the table, giving it a reassuring squeeze every once and a while. When I was finished speaking, there was a small pause before everyone started comforting me. It wasn't long before I started to feel as though I had made the right choice, that this was where I belonged. And of course with those feelings I couldn't help but start crying again.

"Don't cry, little sister, everything will be alright!" Paul assured me, having misinterpreted my tears.

"Yeah, I'm sure your friend will be fine," Jared added.

I shook my head.

"I'm not crying about that, I'm crying because of you guys." I managed to get out. "All this crap going on and you all are treating me so nice. You guys are the best friends a girl could ask for."

There was a silence before Embry gave a scoff. "What were you expecting, Alex? You're family now."

"Yeah, little sister. We'll always be here for you."

* * *

**\- TWO WEEKS LATER -**

**\- MARCH 22nd -**

"Hey, Emily, would you like some help at all?"

Emily stopped mid chop, looking up at me. I had just gotten out of school a half hour ago and drove right over, like usual. Normally, when I got there, she was either in the middle of cooking something or already finished with all the prep work and was just waiting. Today seemed to be the first time I walked in as she was just starting and I wanted to help.

"Of course you can," she replied with a smile. "You'll have to cook for these bottomless pits sooner or later."

I returned the smile as I sat down my bag by the island before moving around it to stand next to the older woman. "That's what I figured, so I thought, 'might as well learn now.'" As I spoke, I rolled up the sleeves of my black shirt and then pulled my hair up into a ponytail. "So what are we making today?"

"Enough spaghetti and chicken alfrado to feed a small army," Emily said, pushing a pair of green bell peppers towards me as well as a clean knife. "You can start by seeding these and then dicing them."

I nodded my head, picking up the knife. "I'm guessing we're making the sauces from scratch." I asked rhetorically, already knowing the answer from the mass of ingredients that covered the countertop. "Did you steal the Black's secret recipe? Shame on you."

Emily chuckled, shaking her head. "Billy's a good guy, but if his spaghetti sauce is homemade than I'm a werewolf."

For the next half hour or so, we worked on the spaghetti sauce in peace. Because it took the longest, that's what our focus was on at the moment. In between out conversations, Emily would instruct me on what to do while telling me what she was doing. Now, although I'm not as bad of a cook as my mom, I'm still not the best. I wasn't Bella.

When four o'clock rolled around, the boys were finished with their midday patrol and came charging through the front door.

"Dang, Emily, whatever you're making smells great," Jared complimented as he walked through the kitchen. He ignored both of us as he beelined it for the fridge, throwing open the door to grab a Mt. Dew.

"Ah, man. Check it out," Paul said as he followed behind his friend. Unlike Jared, through, he was actually paying attention to what was going on around him. Spotting me standing next to Emily with a spoon in my hand, he stopped dead in his tracks. "Are you trying to poison us, little sister?"

"Ha. Ha. Ha. You're so funny, big brother. Please say something else funny." I teased, ending my statement by sticking out my tongue.

"Hey, man. Lay off," Jacob said as he followed Sam over to where Emily and I stood by the stove. It was a little cramped with us all there. "You're just jealous that you don't have a girl cooking for you."

"Awww, thanks, babe." Getting on my tiptoes, I placed a quick kiss on his lips before giving his arm a push. "Now all of you out. Out. We're busy making food and I'm busy learning from Chief Emily."

I allowed Sam to remain next to Emily, because, you know, he was the leader and still scared me slightly. But I got the rest of them to go out. Jacob laughed and made some sort of comment about liking when I took charge while Paul refused to leave until he got his pop. Jared and Embry went easy enough so that was nice.

Emily and I added the last couple ingredients in the spaghetti sauce before starting on the alfrado sauce. I once again helped get all the ingredients together before she had me start on the pasta. And a lot of pasta it was. Filling two very large pots with water I had Sam, who was still in the kitchen just standing off to the side watching Emily, lift them on the back two burners of the stove. Throwing in some salt, I left them to boil, stirring the nearly ready while I waited.

Sam told Emily about how the patrol had gone and I listened while I stirred. They hadn't seen victoria in a while, but knew she was still out there so they had to remain ready. When the water was ready, Emily and I both dumped in I don't even know how many boxes of pasta into each one. We then took a side and switched between stirring the sauce or noodles. Sam exited the kitchen for a few minutes before returning with what looked like a map and a notebook. He took his papers to the table where he sat down and probably started figuring out a new plan.

Just as Emily and I were draining the noodles, each of us holding a side of the pot, the phone started to ring.

"Sam, could you get that please."

"Yes, dear."

It was still so weird to hear someone so physically frightening sound so sweet and loving. Getting up from the table, he walked over to the phone and placed it to his ear. It was old and looked just like the one that we had in our kitchen only Emily's was a light tan color.

"Sue, calm down. What happened?" Sam asked moments after answering the phone. Emily and I both stopped what we were doing, turning to look at the wolf leader. "Wait, Leah? Sue, are you sure?"

There was a pause as Sam listened to what was said on the other end of the phone, Emily and I standing silently, waiting to known why he looked so stressed all of a sudden. All we knew that it was Sue Clearwater on the other end of the line. We watched as he suddenly started nodding his head.

"We'll get them. Don't worry." Hanging up the phone, he was quick to turn around and fill us in on what had happened. "That was Sue. She said that she just got into a fight with Leah, which resulted in her phasing. Seth was in the room and phased as well. They both ran off into the woods."

Emily placed a hand over her mouth, stunned. Those were her cousins. Seth was so young and Leah… well, Leah was a girl. I didn't mean to be sexist, but I didn't think that there were any female wolves.

"Don't worry, Emily. I'm going to go find them. Help them," Sam assured his imprint, crossing the kitchen to stand in front of her. "I promise."

Emily looked up at him, worry in her eyes. "I know you will."

Sam placed a kiss on the top of her head before moving down to her lips. They lingered there for no more than a second before he straightened up, a hard expression on his face. The expression of an alpha.

"Paul, Jared," he called, turning away from us. It took only a few seconds before his pack was standing in front of him. "Jacob, Embry. We're splitting into teams. Paul, you're with me, we're going to the Clearwater house. Jared, you're taking the coastline. Jacob and Embry, you two are running the treaty line. Make sure they don't cross it."

The boys just nodded their heads, noting even wasting time to ask who they were looking for. Either they already heard Sam explain it to us or they knew they would get the details when they wolfed out. Sam nodded his head and the pack of them headed out the front door to find the newest members of their pack.

"Well it looks like dinners going to be late…" I commented as the door swung shut.

* * *

Authors Note:: Guys! I finally finished the first chapter! It only took, what, five months. I just want to say that I am so so sooo sorry that it took me so long to get this out for you all. I hope you accept this hella long Alex/Jacob and Alex/Wolf Pack chapter as my apology. I honestly think I wrote and rewrote it, like, a million times because I had no idea how I wanted to start it. Seemed like it would be more interesting and appealing to you all if I had little snippets of the following month then just having a small section of where we left off before skipping ahead a month and a half. Anyway, thanks for being so supportive and patient. Love you all! :)

10-27-2015: this chapter has now been split into two because I was working on my own twilight timeline and found a point where I was off by a couple weeks. The easiest fix was to just make up another little filler. So there ya go, now you got to find out when Leah and Seth first phased!


	2. Time Flies- Part Two

**Chapter Two: Time Flies – Part Two**

**\- APRIL 7th -**

Driving to school in the morning with Bella was quickly becoming my least favorite part of my day. I still wasn't really talking to her so we usually rode in silence. At least she always spent the free hour after school Charlie gave her with Edward so I was able to have the truck. I frequently used that freedom to go down to the reservation to visit Jacob.

Pulling up in front of Emily's house, I pushed down on the horn a few times to announce my arrival, even though the loud rumble of the truck's engine probably already did that for me. Some days the boys would come out to greet me and some days they wouldn't. More times than not, the days they didn't were days when Emily had made them something to eat. Other days, it was because they had had a particularly rough night on patrol. None of those variables seemed to be the case today as my boys, minus Sam, came outside.

"Hang on! We have an extra member today!" I called happily as I beamed at a shirtless and also smiling Quil.

"Yeah, finally been let in on the big secret," Quil teased.

It felt bad to admit, but after getting all caught up in the whole 'werewolves exist' thing followed by pretty much being told that I had to become a vampire, I had completely forgotten about Quil. The last month or so must have sucked for him, being in the dark, not knowing why his two best friends had completely changed and ignored him.

"That's awesome!" I said, giving him a quick hug.

"Yeah, it's not too bad."

Letting go, I moved to stand next to Jacob who placed an arm around my shoulders before bending down to kiss the top of my head.

"So what are you boys up to today, staying out of trouble?"

Jared gave a sarcastic scoff, a cocky smirk on his lips. "We always stay out of trouble."

I shook my head at him. "Oh yeah, you guys are the picture of innocence."

We made our way inside after that. Emily and Sam both called out a greeting from the kitchen as we passed. It seemed like Emily was always making something. It made sense though seeing as the boys always seemed to be eating.

Congregating in the living room, we all fought over who got to sit on the couch. Embry had made it first and launched himself onto the cushions only to be quickly pulled off by the combined efforts of Paul and Jared. Jacob and Quil were quick to then push those two out of the way and try to sit down. I stood off to the side, silently waiting for an opening. Which was all I really could do seeing as the five of them towered over me.

But my time did come. After maybe a minute of struggling, the five of them had moved to the floor where they began mock wrestling. Being sure to skirt around them, I took a seat next to one of the arms and crossed my legs. The boys continued to struggle until I turned the TV on. Five tanned faced turned towards me, similar looks of surprise tugging their features.

"Seriously?" Embry asked.

"Seriously. I don't know how you guys keep letting this happen," I answered with a shrug.

This wasn't the first time this had played out like this so I really didn't understand how they kept letting it happen. They always got so caught up in fighting each other that they made it more than easy for me to get a seat and turn on the TV.

"Do you guys mind? I'm trying to watch this," I said after a few seconds, putting an annoyed expression on my face.

The boys all looked at each other before getting up and coming towards me. Jared and Quil grabbed me on either side while Paul and Embry quickly started tickling my sides and feet respectively. Instantly, I began laughing while struggling to get away.

"No fair! Four against one!" I gasped out between laughing fits. "Jacob, help!"

"Nah, you got yourself into this one, babe," Jacob said with a shake of his head, a large grin in place as he grabbed the remote and started flipping through the channels.

Paul and Embry continued to tickle me until I managed to wiggle free and accidently kicked Embry in the face.

"Damn, Alex!" he cried, intently pulling away with a hand over his cheek. "That hurt."

"Sorry, but I'm not responsible for what happens when I'm tickled," I said matter-of-factly as I tried to catch my breath.

He grumbled and moaned for a few seconds before shrugging his shoulders.

Everything calmed down after that. To make him feel better even though his cheek stopped hurting after a few seconds, Embry was given a seat on the couch next to me. Jacob sat on the floor in front of me with his back against the armrest and his head leaning against my legs. Quil sprawled out on the floor next to Jacob leaving Paul and Jared to rock paper scissors for the remaining seat on the couch.

Jared won.

And so we sat watching TV for the next hour or so, joking around and enjoying each other's company. I ended up calling my dad, telling him that I was having dinner with Jacob. I was just having so much fun hanging out with them that I didn't want to leave until I had to.

* * *

**\- TWO WEEKS LATER -**

**\- APRIL 20th -**

"So how far behind are you on your school work?" I asked my fingers slowly playing with Jacob's short hair.

We were in his room, sitting on his tiny bed. Well, I was sitting; he was lying with his head in my lap. The nightly patrols were really taking a lot out of him. He should be sleeping right now, getting ready for the patrol tonight, but he was insistent on spending some time alone with me.

"Oh, you don't even want to know," Jacob muttered with a weak chuckle.

"Jacob!" Looking down, I gave him a stern look. "I understand you're trying to protect people, but you can't not do your homework. What are your teachers saying?"

"I'm not exactly their favorite student at the moment," he admitted before turning his head and burying his face in my stomach.

We sat there for a while, me lightly stroking his hair while he dozed with his head in my lap. It was nice. I'm not going to lie, though, after a while I felt like I was going to die. I was already sitting in a tank top and a pair of shorts, but that wasn't enough to keep from burning up when Jacob was this close. I know he couldn't help it, but sometimes I wished he wasn't like a mini space heater. It didn't help that he looked so sweet and innocent while he slept that I couldn't bring myself to voice my slight discomfort.

But after a half hour I couldn't take it anymore. I gently started to shake his chest until he shifted his head again and peeked an eye open.

"I'm sorry, but I feel like I'm sitting on the sun," I tried to be as apologetic as possible with my words.

"No," Jacob mumbled as he slowly got up. "No, I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's not your fault you're like a million degrees."

Another silence passed over us before I looked out his window and gave out a sigh. It was starting to get dark. I should be getting home soon and Jacob would have to be at Emily's in the next couple of hours. Giving out one last sigh, I pushed myself up from the bed and walked towards the small stack of extra clothes that I had brought. Jacob may be a mini furnace, but outside was still cold and rainy. Jacob got up as well and rolled his shoulders before crossing his arms over his chest while he waited for me.

"No, you don't have to see me off. You should try and sleep some more," I insisted as I pulled on my black sweatpants.

"Nah, it's fine. I'll have to be going soon anyway. And I have something I wanna show you."

"What's that?" I asked as I pulled my hair out from under my jacket.

Although he was tired, his face lit up. I gave him a confused look, but that only seemed to make him more excited. I tried a pout, but he still didn't budge. With a shake of my head, I zipped up my coat before moving towards the door and gestured for him to lead the way. He put an arm around my shoulder and quickly led me out of the room.

We walked through the house and stopped at the front door. He held up a finger before heading off into the kitchen where he grabbed something small before coming back. He then held open the door for me. But when I had headed off towards my truck, he called me back.

"Follow me."

"Where?" I asked, once more confused.

The same smile stretched across Jacob's face as he headed over to his garage. "You'll see."

He held the door open for me and I stepped in. Seriously, it looked the same. I had no idea what he wanted to show me. I turned towards him and raised an eyebrow only for him to raise his hand. Hanging from his pointer finger was a set of keys.

My mouth fell open. "Are you serious?"

Jacob nodded his head. "Yeah."

I couldn't control myself; I jumped on him. My arms wrapped around his neck and my legs around his waist. I kissed his cheek a couple of times before my lips found his. The feeling of his skin on me warmed my whole body and the kiss sent out a tingle that moved all the way to my toes. His free hand slipped around me and held me close to him. When we broke apart to breathe, I buried my head into the crook of his neck before hopping down and rushing across the garage to the Rabbit.

"I remembered you telling me about how it sucks driving with Bella so I figured if you had the Rabbit you wouldn't have to worry about that."

"Oh my god, but this is your baby." I was seriously so excited.

"Yeah, well you're my girlfriend." He threw me the keys, which I almost dropped. "Besides, it's not like I'm driving at the moment. She deserves to be driven."

I guess he made a good point. Seeing as he was werewolf now, he really didn't need his car. Whenever he came to visit me, he almost always came through the woods. Opening the door, I took a seat behind the wheel and started her up. It was still loud, be not as loud as the truck. Jacob followed me over to the car and draped his arm over the open door, bending down so he was looking in.

"I gave her a look over already and she still runs like a beauty. I figured you could drive her home and I would follow you in the truck, just in case though."

"Okay!"

I was bouncing in the drivers seat. Jacob just smiled before taking the truck keys from me and closing the door. He then went and opened the big garage door, waiting till I had eased the car out before closing it again. He then ran over to the truck and hopped in. It was only a few seconds before he was turning the keys and bringing it to life.

I gave him a thumbs up before pulling onto the road and heading home. It took me a couple of minutes to get a feel for driving the new vehicle. But once I got the hang of it I was in love. Everything worked better on it then the truck. Turning on the radio, I found one of my favorite stations and sang along all the way home.

After about a half hour, I was pulling into the driveway and Jacob parked the truck on the street in front of the house. Getting out, I ran to him and gave him another hug.

"Thank you! Thank you!"

"You're welcome," he said with a chuckle before bending down to give me a quick kiss. "Make sure you take good care of her."

"I will, I promise." I couldn't stop smiling.

Giving him one last kiss, I watched as he headed into the woods. A quick howl came from behind the trees, Jacob's last goodbye. I shook my head before heading into the house, sitting down in the living room to wait for Charlie.

**\- THREE WEEKS LATER-**

**\- MAY 14TH -**

"No, that's fine. I'll come up tomorrow or this weekend. You get some sleep."

Fumbling with my keys and books, I held my phone in place with my shoulder. It took me a while, but I was soon able to unlock the car. Dumping my crap into the passenger seat, I sat down behind the wheel and grabbed my phone again.

"I feel so bad, I haven't seen you in forever," Jacob complained on the other end.

I gave a chuckle. "Babe, it's been, like, two days."

"That's about as long as forever. I miss you."

"I miss you too, but you really do need to get some sleep. Just call me tonight before you go on patrol."

Jacob gave a sigh that turned into a yawn. "Okay, I promise."

"Alright. Love you."

"Love you, too."

There was a moment of silence as the line went dead. As was becoming more typical for me when I said goodbye to Jacob, a slight pain started to work its way through my chest. Two days did feel like a lone time since I'd last seen him, but I had to put his well being over my girlish need to be with him. If I were to go over there right now, he would just keep himself awake to spend time with me and that was not something that I wanted him to do. I was not going to be one of the reasons why he was not getting enough sleep.

Putting the keys into the ignition, I started up the Rabbit before making the short trip home. The cruiser was parked in its usual spot, confusing me for a moment. Very rarely did dad ever beat me home when I went there after school. Grabbing my stuff, I headed into the house.

"Dad?" I called out as I kicked off my shoes by the front door.

"In here," came his response.

Dropping my books down on the table, I followed the voice into the living room. "Why are you home already?"

"I'm working a split shift tonight," he explained, quickly tucking away the paper he had been reading. "Why are you home? I thought you would be going over to see Jacob."

I let out a sigh before walking over to join him on the couch. "Not today, he said he was tired so I thought I shouldn't bother him."

We then talked about each other's day so far. Dad told me how he had come home around one and just sat around watching TV, but that he would have to head back to the station around five. I told him about the few things that had happened to me at school, the homework I had been settled with as well as how I had done on a recent history test.

After a while, Charlie went to change back into his uniform while I sat there flipping through TV channels. Went he came back, we sat in silence watching a cooking show until Bella showed up. Charlie looked at his watch to see what time it was.

"Four o'clock on the dot, as usual. Does he just carry around a stopwatch or something?"

I muted the TV and looked over the back of the couch at my older sister. Normally she would just go upstairs to her room but for some reason, she let out a sigh before making her way into the living room with us. Setting her backpack next to the couch, she took a seat at the other end and put her feet up on the coffee table.

"He's got a name, it's Edward. And what? Now he's too punctual for you?"

Charlie grunted before leaning forward and resting his arms on his legs.

"You do know why you're being punished, right?"

I leaned back, not wanting to get in the way. As far as I knew, this was going to be the first time dad was going to actually talk to Bella about what had happened over a month ago. He had been busy lately so they hadn't exactly been in the same room very long. In his down time, he would be relaxing in the living room while Bella was often up in her room.

"I put you through hell," Bella answered, looking down at her hands.

"Yes you did… But I do have other reasons for grounding you, like, uh; I just want you to get some separation from him."

I stretched out a hand and rested it on his shoulders for support. Dad was never the 'lay down the law' type of parent. Very rarely did he freak out on us for not doing something so I could understand why he was acting so uncomfortable. But I agreed with him. Edward was bad news and had way too much of a hold on Bella. Sure there was a point in time where I liked him and thought of him as a friend. But then there was the whole situation where he left Bella in a zombie-like depressive stage only to freak out and pretty much seal both hers and mines fates when he thought she killed herself. He made our presence known and left us pretty much no choice but to become either vampires or be killed.

That was not okay with me. There may have been a time went the thought of becoming a vampire excited me. But that was before I found my soul mate in Jacob. I had a new end game in mind, one that didn't involve me drinking blood to stay alive.

"Dad, there's nothing really that you can say. Edward it in my life," Bella insisted with a shake of her head.

I rolled my eyes.

"I'm getting that," Charlie mumbled unhappily before taking a drink of his beer. "So, alright, how about this. I'll make you a deal. No more being grounded… if you use your newfound freedom to see some of your other friends, too. Like, I don't know, you could go down with your sister sometime to see Jacob."

I quickly sat up straighter and whipped my head around to look at Charlie. He gave me a look and shrugged his shoulders.

"Alex, you can't keep him all to yourself. He was your sisters' friend too."

Turning my head around, I looked at Bella. Her eyes held a sad expression. I know she had been trying to talk to Jacob, he told me, but he was still mad at both her and Edward. He didn't like that I was being forced to turn into a vampire, his enemy. Just like me, he was willing to sacrifice anything to make sure it didn't happen.

I turned back to look at Charlie. "Fine."

An awkward silence fell over the three of us for a few seconds before I pushed myself up off of the couch.

"I think I'll go start my homework."

Returning to the kitchen, I grabbed my books and stuff before quickly heading up the steps. Emptying my arms over my bed, I pulled my phone from my back pocket and quickly typed up a message to Jacob. I hoped he didn't have his volume too loud, but I wanted to give him a heads up that Bella might be calling more often and possibly be coming down with me on my next visit… if she didn't try to go herself first.

* * *

Authors Note:: And here we have the second part. These used to be part of the first chapter, but since I added another section I thought it would just be easier to split it up into two so it's not one mega long chapter. Thanks for all the support, love you readers!


	3. Secrets Don't Make Friends

**Chapter Three: Secrets Don't Make Friends**

**\- MAY 15TH -**

I was going to be so happy when school finally ended cause this whole getting up early this was really starting to get to me. Stifling a yawn, I killed my alarm before pushing myself out of bed and out of my room. After a quick shower to wake myself up, I headed back into my room to get dressed. I didn't try too hard, like usual, just throwing on a clean pair of leggings and a long sleeved white shirt. I added a scarf to dress it up at least a little before grabbing my leather jacket and throwing on my combat boots. Slinging my backpack onto my back, I headed downstairs for some breakfast.

Reaching the bottom of the steps, it was clear that Bella and dad were already seated at the table. A bit of their conversation hung in the air as I silently came around the corner.

"-Can't help it. It's getting worse. Seattle is making a run for murder capital of the country."

So they were talking about Seattle. Ever since Leslie and her mom had been reported missing, dad has been trying to protect me from seeing anything related to their case, changing the news or closing his paper whenever I walked into the room. Now I understood that he was just trying to protect me, and I loved him for that, but he couldn't save me from seeing things for myself or hearing about what was going on when I was at school. Every time someone new went missing in Seattle it would become the center of everyone's conversations.

Every once and a while, dad would give me updates on the case, always trying to seem hopeful. This was the first time dad had ever said anything about murder, though. Pressing my back against the wall next to the doorway, I settled myself in to listen to more of the conversation. I didn't want to be kept in the dark anymore.

"I think Phoenix is actually higher up on the homicide list, Dad."

The sound of a chair being pushed back met my ears followed the sound of a bowl and spoon clanging together. I could picture Bella getting up and taking her finished cereal to the sink. To confirm my thought, the water was turned on.

"Yeah, well this is seriously starting to get out of hand."

"What are we going to do about Alex?" Bella asked, causing me to look up. "You can't keep this hidden from her much longer. Kids are talking about it at school. Sooner or later she's going to find out that it's a lot more serious than you're telling her. She was her best friend."

I wondered when Leslie would be brought up. I knew that I was being kept in the dark primarily because of her. Dad didn't want me to go into the same depression that Bella had back in September. You know what, maybe I would have if it hadn't been for the people I surrounded myself with. I had dad and Jacob and the pack. I wasn't going to shut everyone out.

"I know, Bells. But there's still hope that the girl and her mother are alive. They were one of the first to disappear, but their bodies were never found."

"Yeah, but she should still be prepared for the worst. What are you going to do when she finds out from someone else that her friend is dead?"

I knew it was a possibly too, but I didn't want to face that fact right now. Detaching myself from the wall, I walked through the doorway and into the kitchen. Bella had finished washing her bowl and was now leaning against the counter. As soon as she saw me her face paled, which was an amazing feat seeing as she was already so pale. Charlie saw her change in expression and turned to see what had caused it. As soon as he saw me, he hurriedly closed the paper and placed it in his lap.

"Alex," he started, but I just shook my head.

"I'm going to school."

Grabbing the keys to the rabbit, I practically ran out the door. I was pulling out of the driveway by the time Bella and Charlie had made it to the door. I felt bad for running out, I didn't want to deal with the fact that something bad might have actually happened to Leslie or her mom. In the back of my head, I knew that there must have been some reason as to why they hadn't been found. I tried to tell myself it was because they were still alive and that there was the possibility of them coming home safe.

Pulling into the parking lot, I just sat there for a moment to collect myself before grabbing my backpack and heading into the school. A few people I passed said 'hi' or wished me a 'good morning'. I just nodded my head towards them in return.

I was quiet for the rest of the morning, putting most of my focus on my schoolwork and my teachers so that my mind couldn't stray towards Leslie. I was excited when lunch came around; I was hungry seeing as I hadn't had breakfast. I ran into Mike on my way to the cafeteria so I waited in line with him. Once we had gotten our food, we walked over to our usual table where Jess, Eric, Angela, Bella, and Edward were already seated. We took our seats, which now found me in-between Mike and Angela.

"What are you working on there, Jess?" I asked as I picked up a couple fries and placed them into my mouth.

The brunette continued to write on the notepad in front of her for a moment before lifting her head. "I'm trying to figure out my valedictorian speech."

In the back of my head, I could remember her freaking out a while back; having been told that she would be valedictorian. I also remembered feeling sad as it was pointed out to me that a large group of my friends would be graduating this year. I didn't really have a whole lot of friends in my own grade. Sure there were a couple of people that I talked to regularly in my classes, but none that I have actually hung out with outside of school other than Leslie.

Damn, I was doing really bad at not thinking about her.

Mike started nodding his head, his mouth full of some pizza, and made grabby hands towards Jess's notepad. "Let me see what you've got so far."

Jess gave him a weary look but handed over the pad. Mike looked it over for a moment before grabbing her pen, flipping to a new page, and scribbling something down. When he was finished, he cleared his throat before reading to us what he had written down.

"My fellow students. We are the future. Anything is possible if we just believe, blah, blah, blah…" While he spoke, he parodied the voice and mannerisms of an important person giving a speech. And when he was finished, he flashed Jessica a grin being handing over his version of her speech.

"Yeah, this will be my speech. If I want people to throw their diplomas at my head," Jess laughed, ripping off the sheet of paper, crumpling it up, and throwing it at Mike's head.

"Ya gotta embrace the clichés, Jess."

"They are the bread and butter of all valedictorians," Eric chimed in.

I lightly started to pound the palms of my hands on the table, drawing attention to myself. "Oh, oh, oh! You know what you should do, rap your speech! I saw someone on youtube do it and it was super cool," I said excitedly.

Jess shook her head. "Thank you_ so_ much, you guys are _so_ helpful," she joked sarcastically.

"Hey, you're welcome," I teased back, "But really, I'm sure that whatever you come up with will be amazing, Jess."

A large smile spread across Jessica's face at the compliment.

"Alex is right, you're gonna rock that speech," Bella agreed. I think she felt sorry for bringing up Seattle this morning, that and I think she still felt bad about the whole having to be made into a vampire situation.

I don't care, I still wasn't happy with her.

I think Jess could feel the bad vibes coming from us because she shot us both an uneasy look before speaking. "If it turns out as good as I hope, it'll change lives."

With a shake of my head, a smile stretched across my face as I grabbed some more of my fries and placed them in my mouth. It wasn't much after that that Alice and Jasper showed up, the former announcing that she was going to have a party at her house. I looked down at the table while the others were both stunned and excited.

"A party? At _your _house?" Angela asked, wanting to make sure she had heard correctly.

"Whoa. I've never seen your house," Jess commented.

"No one's ever seen their house." Eric pointed out.

Both Edward and Bella commented on the party as well, but I didn't listen to them. I had looked up just as Alice froze in place, her eye staring unseeingly forward. She was having a vision. Jasper realized it too and tried to quickly draw attention away from her by turning to me.

"The parties for the senior class, but you should come too, Alex."

I turned my eyes to him. "Um, I'll have to think about it."

I haven't been over to the Cullen's house since the vote. Haven't really talked to the Cullen's since then either, which sucked cause I really missed Jasper. I hated sitting at the same lunch table day after day only to ignore him most of the time.

"No, Alex, you should come," Angela insisted with a smile, "Half the time I forget you're a year behind us anyway."

"Yeah, Alex. You have to come," Jess added, bouncing in her chair from excitement. "Please?"

A small smile stretched across my lips and I slowly nodded my head. "Yeah, maybe I'll stop by for a bit."

I had been so focused on Jasper's distraction that I hadn't even noticed that it seemed to have worked on everyone except for Mike. He was asking Alice questions only for her to not answer. Edward was quick to jump in and help her.

"Everything will be taken care of. No real dress code, just show up." He then turned to his adoptive sister. "Nap time already, Alice?"

Alice gave a quick shake of her head before giggling. "Sorry, I though I had forgotten my chemistry homework for a moment and kinda spaced out worrying."

She played it off so effortlessly that even I almost believed her, and I knew that it was a total lie! The rest of lunch was spent in excitement over the Cullen's party that wouldn't be this weekend but sometime soon. I participated when necessary but mostly just focused on my food. Halfway through, I turned my head and noticed Edward looking at me, just staring. Right away, I tried to remember what I had just been thinking about, wondering if it was anything embarrassing or personal. It ended up being the latter as I had once again been thinking about Leslie.

Not wanting him to read my mind, like I had a feeling he was, I quickly imagined building the brick wall around my thoughts like he had taught me so many months ago. I was still out of practice, but I think I was getting better at it once more as I seemed to be blocking him out more and more. At least I thought I was blocking him out. He never said otherwise, but it wasn't like I was just going to ask him either.

After a while, I started to get a headache, though, keeping someone out of your mind was hard work and took a lot of concentration on my part. So I bid everyone goodbye before picking up my trash and walking across the cafeteria to throw it away.

The rest of school passed in almost a blur. I tried to follow the same plan of action that I had during the first half, but I wasn't really succeeding. This time I wasn't just thinking about Leslie though, I was also thinking about Alice's vision. Call me a cat, but I was just so curious as to what she had seen during lunch. Probably because it's been weeks since I'd actually spent time with her and didn't know everything that was going on. My imagination ran away from me and by the end of school I was convinced that she had seen something about the Volturi. They knew I didn't want to be a vampire so they were going to come kill me.

Every little noise scared the crap out of me after that; every slam of a locker or car door had me looking around for a monster with blood red eyes. Shit, when my phone rang on my way to the Rabbit I swear I about crapped my pants! It wasn't some scary vampire calling me though; it was just my dad.

"Yeah?" I asked, balancing the phone between my shoulder and ear.

"Listen, Alex, I'm really sorry about this morning."

I let out a sigh, "It's fine dad, don't worry about it."

"It's not fine. Look, can you just stop by the station in about five minutes? I want to talk to you." I could hear the pleading in his voice.

I wanted to say yes, but a part of me also wanted to say no. I had been planning on seeing Jacob now, as it's been a couple days since I'd actually talked to him in person. And now that I had just convinced myself that some vampire assassin was after me I just really use his warm arms around me. Have him hold me tight while telling me that I was just overreacting and that nothing bad was going to happen.

Dad seemed to have read my mind because he soon said, "It won't be long then you can see Jacob after."

Knowing that I couldn't say no now, I started nodding my head. "Okay, I'll be right down."

"Thanks, Alex."

The line went dead and I let out a little moan. Seemed like my avoidance of the topic of Leslie had come to an end. Getting into my car, I took off towards the police station. When I got there, Charlie was sitting at his desk talking to two people. Not wanting to interrupt, I decided to just stay outside. Not even two minutes after I got there, Bella and Edward showed up.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as they got out of Edwards shiny Volvo.

"Charlie called, said he wanted to talk about this morning," Bella answered, she and Edward walked up the steps towards the station and stood a bit off to my side. She tried to make eye contact with me, but I lowered my gaze to the ground, already building my little mind wall.

"So, are you going to tell me what Alice saw during lunch?" Bella asked as she turned away from me. I could hear a faint disappointed sound in her voice.

"It was nothing. Something about Jasper," Edward said, his voice even.

Bella wasn't having it. "But you looked really worried," she pressed.

There was a second's pause before Edward tried to play it off as though he was worried people would start noticing how weird Alice was. I couldn't help myself from commenting.

"Sure, Edward. Whatever you say. Just go ahead and keep your little secrets. You're good at that." I shot him a glare before turning back to look through the doors of the station. The couple was handing over some papers to dad.

There was an awkward pause before Bella commented on how sad the people looked. Being able to read minds, of course, Edward was able to tell her why they were sad.

"Their son went missing in Seattle over a year ago. Charlie's done all he can but,"

I couldn't help it, I looked over at my sisters vampire boyfriend. I hadn't known that somebody had disappeared before Leslie. I though she and her mom had been a few of the first.

"Do you know something about this?" Bella asked.

I couldn't help myself from turning to Edward once more, wanting to know what he did.

"We've been tracking what been happening in Seattle for a while now… A few weeks after Alex's friend went missing. The strange disappearances, the killings, if it all goes on for much longer we fear the Volturi will feel the need to step in and take care of it."

My sister said something, but I didn't hear it as my mind began working a mile a minute. First, vampires were behind what was going on in Seattle? And second, a vampire had possibly attacked Leslie?

"So you're saying vampires are most likely behind my friend's disappearance?" I asked.

Edward just nodded his head. "We're prepared to go to Seattle if we have too."

Before any more could be said, the door to the police station was opened and the couple walked out followed by Charlie.

"Hey, girl," he said to which Bella and I returned the greeting. "You do know I just wanted to talk to the two of you, right?" As he spoke, his eye turned to Edward.

Bella let out a sigh while Edward gave a smile chuckle. "I know, sir. I'm just going to be waiting in the car.

With a nod of his head, he walked down the small set of steps before heading back to his car. Just before opening the door and getting in, he turned back to face us.

"Bella, my parents just wanted to remind you about the airline tickets they got you for your birthday."

I watched as Bella gave him a look while Charlie turned to Bella.

"What airline tickets?" he asked, confused.

"Round trip tickets to see Mom in Florida."

"Well… that was generous," Charlie muttered.

There was a slight pause before Edward pointed out that they expired soon. He then suggested this weekend. He and Bella went back and forth for a bit, I had tuned them out. It wasn't until my name was mentioned that I started paying attention again.

"You know, that might be a good idea for you and Alex. Get out of town for a bit, get some distance."

I couldn't help but chuckle as Charlie seemed more than a little excited to have Bella away from Edward for a few days.

"Yeah, I would love to see Mom," I chimed in, smiling wide. I then turned to dad, "Should we go have this talk now?"

"Sounds good to me."

Dad opened the door and held it for both Bella and me. I stilled wasn't looking forward to the conversation we were about to have, but at least there was something to at least brighten my mood. I couldn't wait to see mom and get away from all the crap that seemed to be going on lately.

* * *

Authors Note:: Woop! Another chapter up! So I won't be able to post an update really often but I will try to get one up every other Friday or Saturday at the latest. I know it's not the best schedule in the world, but it's the best I can do right now. Now the response for the first chapter was incredible. 17 reviews! 55 favorites! 64 follows! GUYS THAT IS INSANE! Thank you so so so much for being awesome and liking my story. You honestly have no idea how happy that makes me. Please keep telling me what you think, I love hearing from you all. And thanks so much for reading! :)


	4. Hey Look, the Sun!

**Chapter Four: Hey Look, the Sun! **

When Friday arrived, I was so excited that I practically jumped out of bed when my alarm went off—which, as you know, is pretty amazing for me. Not only would I be reunited with my mom by the end of the day, but I would also be getting out of school because of the fact that we had an early flight. Now normally I would still be sleeping, but I was just too happy…that and I still needed to pack.

Getting out of bed, I pulled my small carry-on suitcase from under my bed and walked over to my dresser. Seeing as our destination was Florida, I grabbed two of my best pairs of jean shorts and a few of my favorite tank tops. I was going to get some sun this weekend and try and regain at least a little color to my skin. I mean, I loved it in Forks, the rain was pretty cool, but I seriously missed the sun. On top of my shorts, I placed a nice sundress in case we went someplace fancy for dinner or something, a pair of sandals to wear down there, and my elephant blanket. I left the bag open, planning on putting my makeup and toiletry bag in there after I had gotten ready for the day.

Moving back to my dresser, I pulled out some clothes to wear for the day. Being the impatient person that I was, I decided that I would dress for Florida now so that I didn't have to change when I got to mom's house. Putting on a jean skirt, I pulled a loose blouse over my head before grabbing a pair of sweats I had stolen from Jacob and my leather jacket. It was pretty nice in the house so I would throw those on right before we left. Throwing them on my bed, I left my room and headed downstairs for some breakfast.

"Girl, you do realize you're not in Florida yet," Charlie said as I took a seat across from him at the table with a bowl of cereal.

"What? Since when?" I asked sarcastically, before shaking my head. "I have sweatpants and a jacket upstairs that I'm going to put on right before we leave."

"Good. Good, don't need your mom thinking I'm letting you run around half dressed."

I shook my head and rolled my eyes, "I won't let mom think you're not watching us properly. I'll take off my sweats in front of her, promise."

"Okay, you better finish that quick, we should be heading out soon." Pushing himself up from the table, he nodded his head at me before heading off towards his room. He had taken off this morning to drive Bella and me to the airport.

I didn't say anything, just turned my attention to my breakfast. I so was looking forward to this trip, just me and Bella and mom. Although I was still a bit ticked at her for the vampire thing a few months ago and the Leslie thing yesterday, I was hoping that once I got her away from Edward we might be able to work through those problems.

Finishing my cereal, I picked up the bowl and placed it in the sink before heading back upstairs. I brushed my teeth and did my makeup quick before throwing my toiletry and makeup bags in my suitcase before zipping it up. Just as I was stepping into my sweatpants, my phone rang. Grabbing it, I hit the green answer button before grabbing my jacket and slipping it on as well. "Hello."

"Hey, Lexi, it's me."

"Jacob!" A smile instantly appeared on my face at the sound of his voice.

"Look, I wanted to give you a call before you left for your trip today. Well, I mean, I really wanted to stop by and say goodbye in person but I figured you would be mad about me skipping school."

I gave a small chuckle. "As much as I would love to see you right now, you are correct, I would be very mad. You're behind enough as it is, I don't want you becoming more so just to say goodbye to me."

"Ah, but it would be worth it." His voice lowered itself to a whisper for the second half of his sentence and I could hear the sound of a door shutting with a bang.

"Babe, where are you right now, anyway?"

There was a pause before he answered, his voice still hushed. "Bathroom. I'm supposed to be in history right now, but I wanted to call you before you left."

"Aww, that's so sweet. Now you've said goodbye, it's time for you to go back to class," I teased.

"Fine," Jacob groaned before saying, "Text me when you land, I wanna know you made it safe."

"Okay, I will."

"And I don't know when, but I'll call you sometime this weekend."

"Promise?" I asked, zipping up my jacket.

"Promise. I love you."

My smile grew as I looked down at my feet. "I love you, too. Be safe."

Removing my phone from my ear, I placed it in my pocket before grabbing my suitcase and exiting my room. Crossing the hall, I knocked on Bella's door but got no answer. Wanting to leave, I opened the door a peaked my head in just to make sure she wasn't just ignoring me. It was empty. Closing the door, I headed downstairs.

"Dad, I'm ready! Bella wasn't in her room, is…she… down here?" I stopped dead at the bottom of the stairs; an annoyed look replacing the smile brought on by Jacob, "Why is _he_ here?"

Standing in our living room was Edward with Bella by his side. Dad didn't look too pleased as well when he turned to look at me.

"Edward," his name came out tense in Charlie's effort to keep his tone even, "has come to drive Bella to the airport."

My head snapped towards Bella. "Seriously?"

I watched as my sister's shoulders slumped slightly before she met my eyes. "It's just a ride, Alex."

"Yeah, sure, whatever."

Without saying anything, I gave dad a look before turning on my heel and carrying my bag out of the house and over to his cruiser. Of course it was raining, so moving quickly, I put it in the backseat before getting into the passenger seat. Crossing my arms over my chest, I got comfortable while I waited for Charlie. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait very long for him to exit the house with Edward and Bella not too far behind him. They exchanged a few words before Charlie made his way over to the cruiser as well while my sister and her boyfriend headed over to his car.

I guess I should have seen this coming. Of course, Edward would want to see Bella off at the airport. Those two were so co-dependent on one another that it was a miracle that he hadn't found some way to come along as well. Bella had tried to see if I would be okay with it, but I refused. It was our mother, we hadn't seen her in a long time, and he didn't need to be there.

The drive to the airport was pretty long, but Charlie and I filled it pretty well by talking about sports and other stuff. We also talked about school for a bit, but quickly gave up on the topic seeing as summer was just around the corner and nothing interesting was really going on. It didn't really help that I would become a senior very soon… maybe.

When we arrived at the airport, Charlie wanted to park in the ramp and walk with us as far as they would let him, but I talked him into dropping me off in the front. He needed to get to work. He did get my bag out of the backseat for me, though.

"Have a safe flight," he said, setting the bag down next to me. "Say 'hi' to your mom for me."

"I will," I promised, pulling him in for a quick hug.

He hugged me back, giving my back a few pats before we let go. Edward had found a spot farther down the line and had momently parked his Volvo to walk Bella over to us. Charlie gave her a hug as well, wishing her safe travels before letting go.

"We'll see you Sunday, Dad!" I said, grabbing the handle of my bag and pulling on it so that it snapped up.

"Bye," Bella said, giving Edward a kiss before waving goodbye to Charlie.

With one last look, we headed into the airport.

* * *

Long flights were honestly going to be the death of me. My butt hurt from sitting so long in such tight quarters, my legs were sore, and I was hungry as heck. Like, seriously, planes need to start serving better food. Either that or I need to remember to bring something more than just a candy bar on a flight over eight hours.

Thankfully Bella and I were seated more towards the front so we didn't have to wait so long to get off the plane. Pulling my carry-on from the overhead bin, I held it out in front of me and began making my way down the aisle, my sister right behind me.

"So where did mom say she was going to meet us?" Bella asked once we had made it into the airport.

"Um, by the baggage claim area I think," I answered, pulling out my phone to check. "Yeah, she said they'll be by the baggage claim."

Bella nodded her head before following the signs to where our mom would be waiting for us. Since my phone was out, I decided to send Jacob a quick text to let him know we had landed.

**-Hey babe, just landed safe and sound. Going to go find mom. Talk to you soon. xoxo Alex. **

Hitting send, I returned my phone to my pocket before jogging to catch up with Bella. It took us a couple minutes, but we were soon able to find the correct luggage station. Eyes peeled, we both began looking for our mom. It didn't take too long until I saw her standing slightly off to the side, standing next to Phil.

"MAMA!" I cried, unable to contain my excitement. Picking up my small suitcase, I carried it in front of me while I took off towards my mom. When I got within arms length, I dropped it all together and instead flung my arms around my mom.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love my dad very much. But my mom was like my best friend. Sure, people say that all the time, but she really was. I got my eyes from her, my personality, hell; this woman was the one who introduced me to _West Side Story!_ She knew me better than I knew myself sometimes, which made it really hard to be so far away from her. Sure we called and emailed frequently, but it wasn't the same.

But now, with her arms around me, everything just felt right.

"Oh, my baby! I've missed you so much!" Renée said, pulling away. I could see the tears in her eyes as her hands came up and cupped my cheeks. "Look at you, so beautiful! Uh!"

"I missed you too, Mom." I couldn't stop the smile that spread across my face.

She gave me a kiss on my forehead before moving onto Bella who had made her way over as well. "Sweetheart!" Pulling her eldest daughter into a hug, she held on tight before kissing Bella on top of her head.

While she did that, I moved over to Phil and gave him a quick hug. It was nice to see him again, too.

"Oh, I promised dad I would do this in front of you," I remembered suddenly. Already the Florida heat was starting to slip in and I wanted out of my sweatpants. Pulling them down, I readjusted my skirt before removing my jacket as well. "That's much better."

Mom just shook her head at me, an amused look on her face. "Oh, Alex."

Reaching out for me, she placed an arm around my shoulder as well as pulled Bella close. After giving both of our shoulders a tight squeeze, she started leading us out of the airport. "I'm so glad to have my girls with me again."

"We've missed you too, Mom," Bella said, a smile actually appearing on her face.

"So what do you have planned for us?" I asked, resting my head on mom's shoulder.

Phil walked behind us, carrying both Bella and my suitcases. He was the one that answered the question. "Well, your mom thought it would be nice to take you both out for supper. So we're going to stop at the house quick before heading out."

It took us a while to find the car, but soon we had all piled inside and headed towards mom and Phil's house. It was starting to get dark, but the weather was still nice. My window was rolled all the way down and the warm breeze played with my hair and warmed my face. It was a nice change.

"Dude, the house is so much cuter in person!" I exclaimed as we pulled into the driveway.

And it was. Mom had sent both Bella and I a few pictures after they had moved in, but that was all before mom had gotten a chance to add her special touch. Last I had heard she had taken up crafting again and it was clear by the wind chimes that hung from the roof and different structures that lined the front of the house. It was chaotic but in an artsy sort of way. It was very Renée.

"Thanks, sweetie."

The inside was much like the outside but in a very familiar way. I mean, it was a lot of the same furniture that we had back in the old house in Phoenix, but there were also new things. Which was to be expected, I guess. After giving us a quick tour of the house, we followed mom into the room Bella and I would be sharing for the next two days.

"I hope it's alright with you, girls. Phil made the other bedroom into his office." She looked a little worried, watching Bella and my faces closely to judge our reactions.

I looked around the room. The bed was a decent size and the room was nice and neat. It would work fine for a couple of days.

"It's fine, Mom," I assured before taking a seat on the bed, bouncing on it slightly to get a feel for it.

"Yeah," Bella agreed, moving over to the window where there was a nice view of the ocean. "It's just for a couple of days. Alex and I have shared a room before."

"Okay, if you guys are sure." There was still a slight unsure expression on mom's face. I tilted my head and raised an eyebrow at her. Sometimes she could really overdo it with the worrying. "Okay, you're right. I'll let you get settled quickly and then we'll head out to the restaurant in ten minutes."

Blowing Bella and I a kiss, she gave a small wave before closing the door behind her.

As soon as she left, an awkward silence filled the room. I honestly couldn't remember the last time my sister and I had been in a room alone together and I could tell why. It was torture. The flood squeaked slightly as Bella shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. I looked down at my hands in my lap before pushing myself up from the bed. Walking over to the door, I bent down and opened my suitcase, digging around a bit until I found my sundress and sandals.

"I'm going to go change," I told her before exiting the room and making my way towards the bathroom down the hall.

Closing the door, I placed both hands on the counter before looking deeply into the mirror. I watched myself take a few deep breaths before letting out a sigh and shaking my head. Sometime this weekend I would try and fix things with Bella, I promised myself that. I couldn't keep avoiding her. I knew that things probably weren't going to go back to the way were, but I needed to make things right.

Changing into my sundress, the yellow brightening my mood slightly, I folded my skirt and shirt before checking my makeup in the mirror. My eyeliner was a bit smudged, but it was easily fixed. Just as I was about to exit the bathroom, my phone vibrated, letting me know that I had a new text message. It was from Jacob.

**-Sorry, was taking a nap. Happy you're safe. Heading out on patrol now but will call soon. Love you. J **

Shaking my head, a reread the text once more before leaving the bathroom. Bella was sitting on the bed when I reentered the room we would be sharing. She had changed as well, now wearing a pair of cut-offs that went to a couple inches above her knees and a nicer tank top.

She looked up at me when I entered. "Are you ready?"

I nodded my head.

"Okay, I think they're about ready to go. I called Charlie and let him know we made it here fine."

Crap, I had forgotten to text dad. "That's good. Wouldn't want him to worry."

Now it was Bella's turn to nod her head. God, these awkward situations were going to be the death of me. Without saying a word, we both exited the spare room and made our way into the living room where Mom and Phil were waiting. Phil was checking the scores quick so we both took a seat. Once he had learned that his favorite time had won, we all piled into the car once more and headed out to the restaurant.

* * *

Authors Note:: Woop, chapter three is now up. First I would just like to thank you all for being so patient with me. It's been months since the last chapter and that's not cool. But summer is here and I'm hoping to write more. That being said, thank you so much everyone for all the reviews, messages, favorites, and follows. You are all incredibly awesome and it means so much to me. Jasper and Alex won't be getting a whole lot of time together for a while still, but hopefully they'll talk a little. And I was totally calling them Jalex in my head so rock on for that! And we'll see how making longer chapters go. That's kinda something I want but, I don't know, we'll see how it goes. For right now at least I'm hoping for at least 3,000 words. Alright, that's it for now. Hopefully, it won't take months for the next chapter to come out. Thanks for reading!


	5. Florida Vacation

**Chapter Five: Florida Vacation**

Mom made breakfast for us Saturday morning, waffles with slices of strawberries and bananas. Now, she is known for being a rather experimental cook when she's in the kitchen, believe me, I have tried some pretty—let's call them interesting—dishes over the years. But if there was one thing mom was good at, it was breakfast foods. Pancakes, muffins, omelets; you name it and she could make it.

After we had finished eating, Phil said he had something planned with a friend of his before ball practice so he left us alone in the house. That was just fine with us. We spent the rest of the morning sitting in the living room catching up while some reality show played in the background. The three of us sat close together on the couch with Mom sitting in the middle. We talked about school for a while but quickly changed the topic to boys. Mom had met Edward once before when Bella was in the hospital after the whole ordeal with James. But she was still interested in how things with him were going. After that, I told mom everything that was going on with Jacob and me. Well, everything except for the part where he was a werewolf who had imprinted on me.

That would be weird.

After a small lunch of sandwiches and chips, we decided to go sit outside. It was so nice out, the sun was bright as heck, and my skin could **seriously **use some color. Thank God Mom still had a bunch of our stuff in boxes because it wasn't until now that I realized I hadn't packed a swimsuit. How could I have forgotten that! I came to Florida for Christ sake! Changing into the old thing, I slipped on a pair of shorts before heading outside where Bella and Mom were already sitting.

"I've needed this," I said as I let out a content sigh, tilting my head back to better position my face towards the sun.

"You don't get many days like this in Forks." There was a pause as Renée turned to look at Bella and then me. "Don't you both miss this? The warmth on your skin. The vitamin D soaking into your pores?"

"Yeah, I miss it. But the rain is nice too, Mom," I said. _And there's no Jacob here, _I added in my mind.

Renée seemed to realize what I was thinking, though, as she flashed me a knowing look before turning to my sister. "What about you, Bella? Colleges in Florida are a lot sunnier."

"I told you, I really want to go to the University of Alaska."

"But you'll be so far away that it will be even harder for me to see you."

Peeking a look at Bella, I could see a guilty look appear on her face. She wanted to get away from everyone so she wouldn't hurt them when she changed. The University of Alaska was a good cover for her. I had no idea what they had planned for me as I still had one more year of high school left. Did they expect me to continue school as a new vampire? Maybe I should make up with either the Cullen's or Bella and try to figure out what the heck the plan was.

"They have a good science program up there, Mom," Bella tried to explain.

"Don't you mean _Edward_ program?" Mom asked, smiling at her eldest daughter.

I couldn't help the chuckle that slipped out of my mouth. "Of course she's going for the Edward program."

That just caused Renée to turn her head and look at me. Raising an eyebrow, she said, "And where do _you_ plan to go to College after you graduate?"

"I honestly hadn't thought about it too much, Mama." And I hadn't, there have been way too many more important matters that I needed to deal with.

"Well, I bet I wouldn't be wrong in saying that wherever you go would have a Jacob program."

"You're probably right."

We shared in a laugh before Mom got out of her chair and disappeared inside for a moment. When she returned carrying a large purple box, I couldn't help but ask what it was.

"Well, seeing as your sister just insists on going to Alaska for school then she should have something to remember me by." Coming over, she sat the box on Bella's lap before sitting on the edge of her chair once more. "Happy graduation!"

"Mom, I told you not to spend your money on me," Bella said, looking down stunned at the package in her lap.

"And I didn't. Open it."

Wanting to see what was in the box, I got up from my chair and moved to stand behind Mom. Bella pulled the lid carefully off the package and sat it on the ground before pulling out what was inside. It was a quilt.

"Our trip T-shirt!"

"No way!" I exclaimed.

Mom chuckled at our expressions. "I thought they'd make a nice quilt seeing as you don't wear them anymore. Now they can keep you warm while you're up there."

"Mom, that is incredible," I complimented, walking around the chair and taking a seat next to Mom so that I could better see the blanket.

"Do you guys remember that one?" Mom asked, pointing to a square, "From Ensanada—"

Bella nodded her head, a smile stretching across her face. "Saul's Snake Farm and Taqueria—"

"God knows what was in those tacos." Renée made a face as though she had eaten something terrible, her face being similar to the one she had made many years ago after eating said tacos.

"Ugh, I couldn't even look at Mexican food for a month," I remembered, making a similar face.

Tapping a new square, Bella started laughing as she remembered a long-ago vacation. "The three-headed lobster in Maine! The thing gave you nightmares—" she teased, turning to Mom who gave a small shudder.

"But you were all, "Wow, cool!" Already the science geek at ten."

"Oh, that one was my favorite!" I cried excitedly, spotting the shirt that marked our visit to The Mystery Spot in California.

"I remember that one. You got so mad when your sister started to explain how everything was wrong."

"Sorry, Alex," Bella muttered sheepishly, giving me a small smile.

"You should be," I said back, glaring at her before my smile poked through.

Bella then turned to our mom, "This is amazing. Thank you, Mom."

Reaching out, Renée gently took a corner of the quilt and pulled it over so that it sat in her lap. "I figured we could add to it when you have kids. We can take them to the world's tallest catsup bottle. And the chewing gum art museum… I just don't want you going to Alaska without me—or some part of me."

I could hear Mom's voice start to crack and knew she must be on the verge of tears. Turning my head, I confirmed that she was. Bella noticed as well and leaned forward to pull Renée into a hug.

"I'm going to miss you. So much."

I watched as they held one another for a few seconds more before Bella pulled away. "I'm going to go bring this inside." Folding the blanket back up, she placed it nicely in the box before placing the lid on top.

Once she was in the house, Mom turned to me. "So, want to tell me what happened between the two of you?"

"I don't know what you are talking about," I said, shrugging my shoulders as I got up from her chair and moved back to my own.

"Baby, please. I'm your mom. You think I can't tell when you and your sister are fighting?"

_Crap. _

Letting out a sigh, I wondered what I should say. It wasn't like I could just straight up tell her what was wrong. 'Mom, I'm mad at Bella because she went off to Italy to save her vampire boyfriend and exposed both herself and me to the evil old vampires that live there. Now, she and I have to either become vampires ourselves or die because we know too much. But I don't want to be a vampire because I'm in love with my werewolf boyfriend.' Renée was cool with a lot of things, but I honestly think that she would freak out if I told her that.

"Let's just say she kind of royally screwed me over a while ago. I want to forgive her, but I just can't."

There was a moment of silence as Mom looked at me. I think she was wondering whether or not to ask me for clarification, to go more in depth on the situation. She seemed to decide against it though as she said instead, "We'll I'm sure whatever she did couldn't have been that bad."

"Trust me, Mom. It was pretty bad," I insisted.

"And you've been avoiding her because of it? Alex, I've told you how many times that you can't just turn your back on disagreements, you need to discuss them."

"But, Mom, every time I look at her I just think about what she did and get so made I just-" I gave my head a shake and looked away. Even thinking about it made me mad. I needed to calm down though so I took a deep breath before turning back towards mom. "I don't know what to do, Mom."

Mom said nothing, just got up from her chair and moved to join me on mine just like I had done to her not even five minutes ago. I said nothing as well, just moved over a bit to give her some room. Once she had gotten comfortable, she placed an arm around my shoulder and pulled me close to her and held me tight.

"You need to talk to her, Baby. I know you say what she did was bad, and maybe it was, but you can't avoid her for the rest of your life. It's not healthy."

"Ugh, I know you're right but…it's going to be hard." Like when I was younger, I rested my head on her shoulder. Taking one of her hands with mine.

"I know it will be, but you'll regret it if you don't. If you leave this unresolved you might not ever have the same relationship with her as you did before. And you won't like that."

I let out a sigh. "You're probably right."

The conversation pretty much ended there. For the next couple of minutes, we just sat there together, saying nothing but just enjoying each other's company. When Bella returned, we both turned to look at her, the same question on both of our faces. Where have you been?

"I'm sorry, Edward called."

I rolled my eyes and looked away. It seemed like he couldn't even go a couple hours without checking up on her. Or her checking up on him, for all I know Bella had called him.

"Well, I think I'm going to go get dinner started," Mom said, giving my shoulder a quick squeeze before letting go of my hand and getting out of the chair we shared. She also gave me a pointed look before heading into the house.

An uncomfortable silence fell as soon as she left and Bella and I were alone in the backyard. I can't remember the last time we were actually alone someplace. Last night, Bella had gone for a walk while I got ready for bed so we wouldn't be alone with each other in the room we were sharing. I was asleep by the time she had returned.

I wasn't the only one that seemed to feel the thick awkwardness that hung between us. Scratching the back of her neck, she turned back towards the house. "I think I'll just go help mom. Make sure she doesn't get too out of hand."

"Um, do you think we could talk first?" I asked.

Turning back around, Bella met my eye and slowly nodded her head. "Sure. Of course we can talk."

"Down the beach maybe?" The last thing we needed was for mom to come out and check up on us at the wrong moment.

Bella seemed to understand and moved towards the back door of the house. Raising an eyebrow at her, I was about to voice my confusion when she opened the door and shouted, "Mom, we'll be right back. Alex and I are going for a walk down the beach."

"Nice call," I complimented as she closed the door and started walking towards me.

"Well if she looked out and didn't see us, she would freak," Bella explained.

I thought about it before nodding my head. "True."

Getting up from my chair, the two of us walked down the small path that cut across the yard and led towards the beach. Taking a right, we walked for a while before I stopped. Crossing my arms over my chest, I turned to look at my sister.

"Okay, Bella. I'm ready to talk about what happened that day."

"Alex, I just want to start off by saying that I am so sorry for how everything was handled. It wasn't supposed to happen like that," Bella started, "But remember that I did try to tell you when you first showed up at the house. You were just too busy yelling at Edward."

I nodded my head, remembering that day and the things that I had said to my sister's boyfriend. "I know that and take total blame for that one. But that doesn't stop the fact that I still could have been told ahead of time. A morality vote is not something that you spring on someone."

"I know. It was wrong. But once the vote actually started I just got caught up in everything and just sort of forgot that you still didn't know. I'm so sorry."

"And I can forgive you for that. It was Edward I was talking about. He knew what had happened, he was at our house the night before. After getting kicked out of the house by Charlie and before sneaking into your room—come on, I'm not stupid—he could have told me. He could have told me that those creaky old vampires in Italy had decided we needed to be changed."

Bella was quiet for a few seconds as her expression changed. Instead of calm and meek, it became skeptical. Raising an eyebrow at me she said, "If he would have tried to explain what had happened to you that night, would you really have listened?"

I stood there for a moment, pursing my lips. No, I probably wouldn't have. I would have yelled at him the second he stepped foot in my room. "That's beside the point, he could have tried."

"You don't have to change when I do, you know that right? After you ran off, in the forest Edward said that time was different for vampires and that you could be changed at a later date. It would be years before you would have to do it," Bella reminded me.

I knew she was just trying to be helpful, make it up to me in a way. But that didn't really fix my situation. "_When_ I am changed doesn't really matter, Bella. The fact that I still have to be changed does."

A thought of Jacob flickered through my head causing tears to prick at the back of my eyes. If I was changed, I didn't even want to think about what would happen to him. Would he hate me? Bella didn't know about him having imprinted on me, mainly because there hasn't been too much of a chance for me to tell her.

Now probably wasn't the best either…

Bella seemed to catch on to what I was thinking because she brought him up. "I'm sure if you mean as much to Jacob as he means to you then you'll be able to make something work."

"I shouldn't have to worry about making a vampire/werewolf relationship work. It's hard enough having a human/werewolf relationship," I groaned when I realized what I had just said. "God, when did our lives become so fucked up?"

"I think that would be when we moved to Forks," Bella said with a sad chuckle.

I chuckled lightly as well before looking my sister in the eye, a serious tone settling into my voice. "Do you regret it?"

I don't know if I did. I wouldn't take away the amazing friendships I had forged in Forks, living with dad for longer than just a couple weeks every year, Jacob. But all this crap with monsters that weren't even supposed to exist, things made up to scare little kids, that is something that I would be happy to forget.

"Not at all," came Bella's reply. "You?"

I surprised myself by answering without hesitation, "Me neither."

* * *

_"Our song is a slamming screen door, sneakin' out late tapping on-" _

Blindly, I stretched out a hand and felt around for my noisy ass phone. When I found it, I tried to bring it to my ear only to feel a tug as my phone charger ran out of slack. _Damn. _Lifting my head, I pulled the cord from my phone before hitting the answer button and bringing the phone to my ear, lying back down with my eyes closed.

"Hello?"

"Oh shit, you're sleeping. I should have known that. I'm sorry, Lexi."

Recognizing the voice on the other end, I opened my eyes slightly and lifted my head from my pillow. "If I was asleep, I wouldn't be talking to you right now, Dummy."

"I can call you later. Tomorrow morning. I'm sorry; I forgot how late it was." Jacob sounded almost as tired as I did. Although where my voice was laced with grogginess, his seemed to be heavy from exhaustion. His reason for calling instead of sleeping must be pretty important.

"Nah, I wanna talk now, I miss you." Sitting up in bed. I looked down at Bella sleeping next to me. "Hang on, I don't want to wake up my sister."

"If you're sure."

Moving gently, I pushed back the covers and got out of bed. Padding over to the door, I took one last look at Bella, who hadn't moved, before exiting and heading down the hall to the living room.

"Okay, I can talk now."

"Okay." There was a moment of silence as I heard him stifle a yawn before he said, "So how's your vacation with your mom?"

"Fine. It's nice to see her and talk to her in person. You better watch out, though, she really wants to meet you now. You'll either have to come down here soon or, _gasp_, she'll have to make a trip up to Forks."

Jacob laughed on the other end of the line, "I could use a trip away from Forks actually."

I smiled. "It would be nice, going away with you for a while. No vampires. No werewolves. Just you and me… and my mom." I couldn't stop myself from laughing as well.

"I would take a vacation with you and your mom over this shit any day."

Silence fell between the two of us as we both thought of what was going on. We were just kids trying to deal with the shitty situation we had found ourselves in. He was a werewolf, part of a pack that existed to practice their tribe. And I was a girl who knew about vampires and was now slated to become one.

"So why did you call? You sound tired. You should be in bed. You sound like you just finished a patrol."

"I did… that's why I called you." There was a pause as he yawned again. "Victoria showed up tonight."

I instantly found myself wide-awake, my veins felt ice cold. "Victoria." I'm not even sure I actually said her name out loud but instead just mouthed it. Clearing my throat, I willed myself to speak up slightly, just in case. "What happened?"

"She got away."

"She got away!?" I yelled, instantly regretting it. I sat there, waiting for Mom or Phil to come yell at me for being so loud, so late at night.

"We were patrolling like normal when Sam caught her scent down by the boundary line. He sent out the call to Paul and me. When we got there, she was running along the edge with the Cullen's keeping stride on their side. We started chasing her when she jumped back to their side. Next thing we know, the big one is over on our territory."

"Emmett?" _Why would he go over to their side? _

"Yeah, him. He comes on our territory and ends up getting in a fight with Paul."

"Big Brother? Is he okay?" Paul was more than capable of holding his own in a fight with the other wolves. But Emmett was a big stone-like vampire. I didn't want him hurt.

"He's fine, they only fought for a few seconds before the bloodsucker went back to his side. But it was just long enough for the red head to get away."

"What?"

Jacob let out a huff, obviously still ticked over the situation that had happened tonight. "Yeah, she's fast and we stopped chasing when Brawny crossed the line."

"Why would you do that, though? If you were both chasing her why would you stop?"

"Because, Lexi, that treaty was put in place to protect our people. If we let them cross now they might think it's been forgotten. And it damn sure hasn't."

I dropped the subject there. I could tell he was beginning to get worked up and I didn't want to start something so I decided to drop the subject. "I'm sure you'll get her next time. With both you and them chasing her, she probably won't try anything for a while."

"We'll see. Sam seems to think she might try to get past us again soon. He's going to start putting five of us on duty instead of three."

"He's going to run you guys ragged," I commented, shaking my head disapprovingly.

"Yeah," was all Jacob said.

Once more a silence fell over the two of us. I don't know if it was because we were both thinking about what had happened tonight or if we were both just too tired to speak. I'm leaning more towards the latter.

During the silence, I thought of something and figured I might as well bring it up before letting him go. "Hey, Jake. You don't have to come see me tomorrow when we get back home."

"Why don't you want me to come see you tomorrow?" he asked, a suspicious tone leaking into his voice.

"No reason in particular," I started, shrugging my shoulders even though I knew he couldn't see. "I just know that we aren't going to be getting in till late and I don't want you to get in trouble with Sam."

"Okay," was all Jacob said, though the same tone lingered.

It was weird, but I was too tired to question it.

"I'll send you a text when we land," I promised. "Let you know I'm all safe and sound."

"You better. I love you."

"I love you too."

Ending the call, I remained seated in the living room for a moment, thinking about what Jacob had told me. Victoria had shown up, but gotten away and Paul and Emmett had gotten into a fight. I didn't get much farther than that as I started to yawn every couple of seconds. Without bothering to head back to the bedroom, I just pulled the throw blanket from the back of the couch down and draped it over my body before laying down and getting comfortable.

* * *

Authors Note:: Finally happy enough with the conversations in this chapter to post it. Probably will end up going back and reworking it, but that's fine. Little more going on in this nice long chapter; Alex got to talk to her mom, worked some things out with Bella, and found out what's been going on in Forks from Jacob. Speaking of Jacob, he will be returning in the flesh next chapter. Yay! I want Alex and Jacob to have a song and have a couple in mind but would love to hear if you guys have any that you think would fit first. So if you have one, please leave it in a review or message me. :) Speaking of reviews thank you so much to **534667lc**, **The-Effulgent-One**, **Layla347**,** Crystal-wolf-Guardian-967**, **Iris RainbowWolf** and **Immortalman18 **for your reviews. And thanks everyone else who has favorited, followed, or is just reading this story. It means the world to me. See you next chapter!


	6. Skipping School

**Chapter Six: Skipping School**

Monday morning brought gloomy looking clouds and dark skies, a heavy contrast to the sun and blue sky I had left in Florida. Though I can't say that it was a disappointment. I loved my mom very much and would miss her even more, but it was nice to sleep in my own bed and fall asleep to the sound of rain hitting the roof.

Charlie had picked us up at the airport, dressed in his uniform and leather jacket. It was raining, heavy and fast, bringing with it a chill. So when I saw dad and wrapped my arms around him, I almost didn't want to let go he was so warm. But I did so that Bella could greet him as well. While we waited for our bags to come round, I sent Jacob a text, letting him know that we had landed safe and sound and that I would see him tomorrow after school. It wasn't until we were seated in the cruiser and on our way home that I got a text back, simply reading 'see you tomorrow'.

I'm not going to lie; I was a bit disappointed that that was the only response I got from him. Although I really didn't want him to come see me so late at night and get in trouble with Sam I thought he at least would have been happy that I was home. It hurt.

Getting out of bed, I walked over to my dresser and pulled out clothes to wear today. I didn't really feel like going all out so I just grabbed a plain white shirt and some ripped jeans. Once I was dressed, I made my way to the bathroom where I washed my face and brushed my teeth before heading back into my room where I put on just a bit of eyeliner and mascara before throwing my hair up in a bun. Putting on my boots, I grabbed my phone and backpack before heading downstairs for something to eat.

"Oh, morning, Alex," Dad said as he pulled on his jacket, about to head out to work for the day.

"Morning, Dad," I greeted as I headed towards the cabinet to find something to eat.

"You going to go see Jacob after school?"

I nodded my head as I reached out and grabbed a granola bar. "I promised him I would."

"Okay, just make sure you're home for supper," Dad said before opening the front door. Instead of leaving right away, though, he paused. "Better tell your sister that her ride is here."

Moving over to the window that looking out over the front yard, I saw that Charlie was right; Edward sat waiting in front of the house in his Volvo. Rolling my eyes, I said, "I'll tell her. Have a good day at work."

I stood by the window an extra moment, watching Charlie walk to his car, before making my way to the stairs. "Bella. Edward," I called before moving and taking a seat at the table in my usual mismatched chair. I had planned on just eating my granola bar at school but now decided to kill time so I didn't have to see Edward. I may have forgiven Bella for what had happened, but that didn't mean I could (or would) do the same for him. Nobody leaves my sister alone in the woods and causes her to turn into a zombie.

Speaking of Bella, she came down the stairs not even two minutes later. I had only taken a few bites out of my breakfast bar.

"Okay, I'll see you at school, Alex," she called over her shoulder before heading out the front door.

"See you," I muttered to myself, giving my head a small shake.

Finishing my granola bar, I grabbed another for later and placed it in my backpack before heading out as well. Getting into the rabbit, I turned on the heat and sat there for a minute or two, letting the air warm up before heading off to school. Finding a spot was easy enough as I had started parking in the back of the lot, close to the exit. It was extra walking, but it was worth it in the end to avoid the backup of cars that resulted at the end of the day meaning I could get to Jacob sooner. Shouldering my backpack, I hunched my shoulders and crossed my arms over my chest before walking quickly towards the school.

I usually let my mind wander aimlessly on the walk across the parking lot, so it wasn't a surprise when I didn't notice the familiar face that joined the crowd this morning until I was a few feet away from him.

"Jakey!" I cried once I had spotted him, jumping into his arms once I had crossed the distance between us.

"Lexi!"

"What are you doing here?" I asked once he had sat me back on my feet. "I told you I would stop by after school."

"He said he's here to make sure we're still human," Bella's voice answered. Turning around, I saw my sister standing there with Edward. I was so excited to see Jacob again that I hadn't even noticed I had pushed past them to get to him.

I was confused at her words, though, my brows knitting together as I turned back to my boyfriend. "What? Why?"

A sheepish expression tugged Jacob's features, "I'm sorry, Lexi, but I just had to make sure. I got worried when you told me not to see you yesterday when you got back."

I shook my head at him. "I told you why you didn't have to come over. I wanted you to get some rest since it would be late. Why would you think we wouldn't be returning _'human'_?" I lowered my voice towards the end of my sentence, not wanting those passing on their way to the school to hear.

I had sent him a few pictures throughout my trip, me and mom on the beach, the sun from my first day in Florida, heck, even one of Bella and me on the way to the restaurant. Clearly we were where I said we would be and not off somewhere being changed. Plus, he should have known that I wouldn't be changed without putting up at least some sort of fight.

"Because that one-" Jacob nodded his head towards Edward, "-wasn't with his family this weekend. And when I realized he wasn't with them, I assumed he had been with the two of you."

"He wasn't with us in Florida," I stated while Bella said, "What happened this weekend?"

There was a moment of silence as the four of us just looked at each other before Jacob spoke, glaring at Edward.

"You didn't tell Bella what happened?"

"Leave it alone, Jacob," Edward said, answering his question by not answering it.

Bella gave Jacob a look before turning her attention to her boyfriend. "Tell me what happened this weekend?" she asked again.

A smirk appeared on Jacobs' face as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I told Lexi what happened later that night."

That only made Bella more determined to find out what she was missing. "Tell me. I want to know," she said in a firmer voice. Edward seemed persistent, not speaking right away. Bella had just turned to Jacob, ready to ask him when her boyfriend decided to open his mouth.

"There was a stupid misunderstanding between Emmett and Paul. Nothing to worry about."

Knowing what really happened over the weekend, I shook my head at Edward's interpretation. My sister was a big girl; he didn't have to hide this from her. She could handle the truth. Jacob seemed to think the same as he let out a bark of laughter.

"Man! Just listen to you, trying to smooth everything over. Did you lie to get them out of town, too?" he asked, baiting the vampire.

It seemed to be working as Edward's eyes darkened. "_Leave_. Now," he said, his jaw clenched tight.

"You can't tell my boyfriend to leave just because he's trying to make sure Bella knows the truth," I said, turning to Edward.

"Lexi's right. Bella has a right to know, just like Lexi does. Especially since Bella is the one the red-head wants."

Bella knew instantly whom Jacob was talking about. "Victoria's back."

I nodded my head. "Yup. Jake told me there was a bit of a chase that happened this weekend. She got away."

Bella turned back to Edward, and angry expression tugging at her features. "Alice's vision—it wasn't about Jasper at all, was it? It was about Victoria—"

"I was trying to protect you—" Edward started to explain before Bella interrupted him.

"By lying to me?"

"Yeah, probably not the thing to do, Edward. Though, I gotta admit, it is better than leaving her alone in the woods." I say, smiling as I see him wince at that. For once, I was glad he could read my mind as I remembered the image of my sister, cold and shaking on the couch after we had found her.

I then remembered something about turned to Jacob, "What do you mean that HE—" I pointed to Edward, "—wasn't with his family this weekend?"

Jacob just shrugged his shoulders before looking Edward in the eyes. "We saw all of them on their side except for him and we didn't catch his scent to mean he was nearby. It seemed weird that all of his family would be there, but he wasn't."

"That is weird," I muttered, turning to look at Edward and my sister… who wasn't meeting my eyes. "Bella…"

Before my sister could answer, though, the bell rang, signaling the start of school. Jacob turned to look at the building before slowly taking a few steps backward towards his motorcycle that I know saw was parked in the middle of the sidewalk.

"Maybe we should continue this conversation elsewhere." Swinging his leg over the bike, he took a seat before turning to look at me over his shoulder. "Coming, Lexi?"

"Not on that death trap, I'm not." I let Jacob talk me into riding with him once and I hadn't liked it. Although I trusted Jacob in his driving capabilities, I just couldn't get over the fact that I felt so unprotected. I much preferred a car where I at least had something there to protect me in case of an accident.

I looked at my sister, standing next to her boyfriend. "Bella, are you going to come. We can talk about what happened. I promise I'll tell you everything."

Bella looked torn for a moment before taking a step towards Jacob, only for Edward's hand to appear on her arm.

"Edward, you have to _trust_ me." I could hear the hint of annoyance in her voice and smiled.

"I trust you. It's _him _I don't trust." He let go of her arm, though, leaving her free to go if she wanted.

I rolled my eyes at that. "I think Jacob is very trustworthy, Edward. He doesn't shut me out."

"You should be careful, Alex. Things can get dangerous quick with wild animals," Edward warned, his yellow eyes flicking to Jacob who glared.

I didn't say anything but turned to look at Jacob as well. I knew the risks of being with him, I've spent more than enough time with Emily to know what a possible outcome could be. But I trusted Jacob. Plus, Edward was one to talk. I know how my sister's blood affects him. I've also experienced first hand how things could go bad with vampires as well. Or maybe he was including himself in the wild animals comment.

Either way, Jacob didn't like the comment very much and decided to respond by bringing his bike to life, reminding Edward that he was about to leave with the Swan girls and leave him in the parking lot. Bella seemed to get the hint as well because she started to walk over to him, probably thinking that she was going to get on the back of his bike since I wasn't.

Like hell she was.

"I don't think so, Sis," I said, moving quickly to stop her before she could get on the death trap. "You're going to ride in the Rabbit with me."

An almost disappointed look flashed across my sister's face before she nodded her head. "Okay."

"Meet you at Emily's?" I asked, turning to Jacob.

"Yeah."

"Okay, be safe." Moving in, I gave Jacob a quick kiss on the cheek before stepping away. He flashed me my favorite grin before driving off the sidewalk and speeding out of the parking lot.

* * *

Driving with my sister again, after not driving with her for weeks, was awkward to say the least. For the first five minutes or so we didn't say anything, just listened to the radio while I drove. But then the thought of Edward having possibly been in Florida started to bug me and I honestly couldn't stand it anymore.

"So was he there?" I asked, turning down the radio.

"What?" I know Bella knew what I was talking about but just didn't want to admit it right away.

I took a deep breath. "Edward. Was he in Florida with us?"

There was a moment of silence before Bella let out a sigh. "Yes."

I almost wanted to slam on the brakes. Why couldn't she just spend three days without him? Hell, it wouldn't have even been three days! She saw him before we left on Friday. And I'm pretty sure he was in her room Sunday night after we got back. It would have just been Saturday! One day!

I didn't want to snap at her, though. I had just forgiven her for the vote and I really didn't want to start another fight. I missed her. So after I took a few minutes to get my anger under control, I spoke in the most level of voices as I could manage. "Why did he have to come to Florida? How did you do it? You were with Mom and me all the time and there was the sun issue. How did he go outside?"

"He booked a ticket on a plane that left shortly after ours. After saying goodbye at the airport, he left with Charlie before going back in and getting on the plane. And although I was with you for most of the trip, I did go on those walks. That was later at night when the sun wasn't a problem." I heard her let out another sign before continuing. "I guess now he just wanted to make sure that we were protected."

"Even though Victoria was here in Forks?"

"She_ is_ a vampire, Alex. I'm sure if she would have found out we weren't here, she could have been in Florida in a couple of hours." Bella pointed out.

And I guess she did have a point, but I was still annoyed that she had to go behind my back about it. Sure she had asked if I would have been okay with him tagging along and I had voice my disapproval. But that didn't mean she had to go behind my back. Even though I was against it, I much would have rather known he was going to be coming anyway.

I bit my tongue to keep myself from saying anything else, as I really didn't want to say something that I might regret later. Instead I just sat there, my eyes focused on the road.

* * *

"Hey! Look who's back," Embry greeted as I pulled up next to Jacob's motorcycle. "Alex!"

From my open window, I just waved at him before turning the car off and unbuckling my seatbelt. I had opened my door and was about to get out when I saw the look on Bella's face. She was just sitting there, a worried look on her face and she looked at the group of boys. "Bella, what's wrong?"

"I'm starting to think this might not be a very good idea."

I gave a small chuckle, "What's the matter, Bella. Afraid of a couple boys?"

Bella rolled her eyes at me before shaking her head. "No." she let out a sigh before leaning back against the headrest. "Maybe. I don't know, I'm the "vampire girl" remember?"

"Well, do you see any vampires here?" I asked, my voice no more than a whisper as I pretended to look around. When I didn't see anything sparkle, I turned back to my sister. "Cause I don't. So I think you'll be fine." And with that, I got out of the car.

"So how's it going boys?" I asked, walking over to their group, slipping my arm around Jacob's waist, "Miss me?"

It had only been a couple of days, but it felt like a lot longer since I've seen Jacob, touched him. Okay, that sounded a little weird. But it seemed like he missed me just as much because he instantly placed his arm around my shoulder and pulled me close. Oh shit, were we getting to be like Bella and Edward, all obsessive?

Thankfully, Embry pulled me away from that thought by speaking. "Oh, course we missed you, Alex—"

"Yeah, cause now that you're back we might get a break from Jake's obsessive inner-chatter." Jared interrupted, smirking.

"Huh?"

"Oh, Little Sister, you're boyfriend here has been a real pain in the ass." Paul teased before trying to pitch his voice like Jacob's, "What do you guys think Lexi is doing right now?"

"Should I call, Lexi?" Embry added while the others laughed.

"Guys, she doesn't want me to come over, do you think something happened?" Jared said.

I rolled my eyes at that and smacked Jacob in the chest. "How many times do I have to tell you? I wanted you to get some sleep you ass."

"I told you, I was worried," Jacob said, trying to defend himself though he chuckled a bit.

"Oh hey, look who decided to get out of the car," Quil pointed over to where Bella was slowly making her way over. "What up, Bella?"

It seems like she had been able to work up at least a little courage to get out of the car, but not enough to where she could keep it from her expression. She looked nervous, hesitant. "Hey," she said slowly, coming up to stand next to our little group. "So, you too, Quil?"

Quil chuckled before nodding his head, "Yeah, I was finally let in on the big secret."

"You would have known that if you came down more," I muttered with a shrug.

The boys joked around a bit, shoving each other before the door to Emily's house slammed shut, causing us all to turn around quickly. There, standing with a scowl on her face, was Leah Clearwater. The expression seemed to worsen when she saw me standing there next to Jacob, our arms around each other.

I really don't think she liked me very much.

I tried to be nice though in the hopes I might be able to change her mind. So smiling, I said, "Hey, Leah."

"Leah Clearwater?" Bella asked, recognizing the name. "I'm so sorry about your dad. Charlie really misses him."

She said nothing, just looked at us before walking past and into the woods where she turned into a large light gray wolf and ran off. Seconds later, Sam and Emily exited the house, which explained Leah's sudden retreat. It was always awkward around her, Sam, and Emily.

"Ahh, Bella. I was wondering if we might ever see your face around here again," Emily greeted as she pulled my sister into a hug. She then turned to me and pulled me into a hug as well, one that I happily returned. "It's always good to see you, Alex."

"Always good to see you too, Em."

"I can't say I'm not surprised to see you here, though. Shouldn't you be at school?"

I chuckled at that. She knew I was always on Jacob about school and how he needs do his homework and shit.

"Normally, I would have made this wait. But it's kinda important so I relented," I said before looking at Jacob then my sister. "Speaking of which, we should probably fill Bella in on this weekend."

"Well, we'll leave you to it then. The boys should be heading out anyway," Emily said.

She and Sam shared a rather meaningful look before he lightly brought a hand to her scarred cheek and gave her a sweet kiss. He then turned to the group of boys and nodded his head towards the woods, the same section where Leah had disappeared into a few minutes ago. They all took off happily, shoving each other some more before turning into wolves and taking off between the bushes. Emily watched them go before heading back towards her house.

"You guys are welcome to stop in after you're done if you'd like," she assured before entering the house to no doubt clean up the leftovers of the meal she had prepared for the pack.

"They are going to finalize the new patrol route," Jacob explained, removing his arm from across my shoulders. "Make sure that the red-head doesn't get past us again."

"Speaking of Victoria. You guys wanna tell me what happened this weekend?" Bella asked.

Now that we were alone, she seemed a bit more comfortable. Slipping my arm from around Jacob's waist, I turned to completely face my sister, meeting her eyes. "Of course we'll tell you what happened this weekend."

* * *

Authors Note:: God, I'm working too much I swear. But here's the next chapter for you all! I still have no idea when I'll be able to get on a regular posting schedule so until them I'm trying to make the chapters longer. I gotta give you all something, right? Like I promised, Jacob is back! Next chapter will have him and Alex telling Bella about the imprint. It was going to be this chapter but I decided to split it in half because it was getting a little too long and I didn't want chapter six to be teeny-tiny in comparison. Thank you so much to the people that reviewed last chapter: **53466lc**, **Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967**, **oneofthegolden**, **Aurora**, **Immortalman18**, and**clancy1018**. You all are the best! I wish these stories were done too so you guys didn't have to wait so long for updates, I really do hate making you all wait. I am always so honored when people give up sleep to read my stories so thank you so much for your sacrifice, haha. And thank you to everyone who has favorited or is following this story, you guys as awesome too!


	7. Intruder Alert

**Chapter Seven: Intruder Alert **

And we did.

Or rather, Jacob did since he was the one that was actually there for the incident. He told her about how they had picked up Victoria's scent and started chasing after her when she started playing leapfrog across the boundary line, which resulted in the Emmett and Paul scuffle. Jacob also once again brought up the fact that Edward wasn't with his family, which prompted Bella to explain how he was with her. I stood quietly with my arms crossed over my chest while she explained that, still ticked that I had been left in the dark about it.

As we talked, we moved from the front of Emily's house, through the woods, and down to the beach not too far way. Walking across the sand, we soon came to a fallen tree where we decided to settle. Bella and I sat on top of the trunk, me cross-legged while Jacob stood in front of us.

"So then…um, when did Leah…you know, make the change?" Bella asked after a silence had fallen upon the conclusion of our talk about this weekend. It seemed weird to her, that there was a female werewolf. She didn't want to be sexist, but she had thought it was just a male thing.

"Maybe two or three weeks after her Dad died," Jacob said, "Her brother, Seth, also phased and he's only fifteen."

"How is Seth?" He was a good kid, but I hardly got to see him except for over the weekend when Sam would let him come over.

Jacob gave a small laugh. "Poor kid is about to start pulling his hair out." He turned to my sister before continuing. "Sam has him at home most of the time, studying because he's so young." The whole point of coming out here was to explain everything to her so he figured he might as well fill her in on what the pack has been up to as well.

"Maybe Sam should be pushing for a few others to be studying as well," I muttered, only half joking.

"Lexi, you know there are more important things going on right now."

A sigh escaped my mouth. I did know that there were more important things going on, but I couldn't find it in me to let the subject go. That's what we should be focusing on, school work. We should be worrying about grades and what colleges we might be able to get into, not about whether a vampire might show up at any second to kill my sister.

Lowering my head, I gave it a shake before speaking. "Let's drop it for now."

Bella flashed me a look, probably noticing my slight change in mood. She then turned to Jacob and quickly changed the subject from school. "So, Leah is the only girl in a pack of boys. That's gotta be rough."

"Yeah, you would think," Jacob answered with a scoff. "But she's the one that makes it hard for the rest of us."

"Hey, that's not fair," Bella said, flashing him a look before laughing, "Don't be such a guy."

"It's not her fault, really. It's the whole love triangle thing. Now that she's a wolf, we all have to relive the Leah-Sam-Emily pain-fest over and over," Jacob explained.

"So Sam dumped Leah for Emily?" Bella asked.

I shook my head. "Not exactly." I turned to Jacob, the two of us sharing a look. We both knew what was about to happen. In the back of my mind, though, I knew it was time for her to know.

Bella noticed our exchange, a confused look appearing on her face. "Well then what is it?"

Looking away from me, Jacob turned to my sister and started explaining the situation. "Sam imprinted on Emily. He feels terrible for hurting Leah like that, but Emily was 'The One'."

"What's imprinting?" Bella looked even more confused.

"It's not something that we can control. Once we see that one person, make eye contact, the entire world seems to shift around them. We would do anything and be anyone for them be it a friend or something more. Sam tried to stay away from Emily at first but in the end couldn't stop himself."

"Wow…Poor, Leah," Bella said softly. There was a small silence before she spoke again. "Has anyone else imprinted or is it just Sam?"

Jacob went quiet for a few minutes before speaking slowly. "Well, there's Jared, he imprinted on a girl named Kim from his English class. She had a crush on him for years so she was ecstatic. Quil Imprinted on Emily's niece Claire. And…I imprinted on Lexi."

"What!?" Faster than I thought possible, she jumped off of the tree trunk and her head snapped to look at me. "When?"

My eyes flickered to Jacob before landing once more on my sister's face. "So, remember how the night before we found out that they were wolves, Jacob showed up in your room?" Bella nodded her head but stayed quiet so I could continue. "Well, it happened that night when I barged in and yelled at him."

"So you get imprinted on and decide not to tell me?" I could hear the hurt in her tone. We used to tell each other everything.

"I'm not going to lie, I didn't tell you at first because I was thinking it over and trying to process it all myself. And then you ran off to save Edward and the vote happened and I was mad at you. This is pretty much the first time I've actually had the chance to bring it up."

Bella stood there for a moment before letting out a sigh. It was as though something clicked in her brain. "So that's why you're so against the change. It's not just because of Jacob. Or it is, but it's more complicated than that."

"It's way more complicated than that," I answered.

"If Alex were to change into a vampire, it would mean she has to die and I don't think I can survive that, Bella," Jacob said before explaining the link that took place between a wolf and their imprintee.

"I'm sorry, Jacob, but I don't know if there's a way around it. Alex won't have to change when I do, but I don't think she can avoid it forever," Bella said sadly.

Jacob looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "When exactly are you going to be changing, Bella?"

There was a pause as my sister looked down at her feet. "After graduation," she answered slowly.

"What!"

"Jacob," I said warningly, getting up from the fallen tree as well. Taking a few steps towards him, I rested a hand on his arm. "Take a deep breath."

He didn't really seem to hear me, but his body loosened up a bit at my touch. "Graduation is a few weeks away. How can you be doing this so soon?"

"I know that it will create some problems for you, but this is what I want, Jacob."

"Some problems? I'll have to hunt you down, Bella. It's not something I'll want, but I won't have a choice."

Bella shook her head. "We're going to leave, why would you have to come after us?"

"Because that's why we are what we are, to protect against leeches like them. Once the treaty is broken, Sam won't hold back."

I stood there, watching my sister and boyfriend go back and forth. I wish that as soon as Bella was changed that Sam would just let them go, but I could see why he couldn't. As a newborn, there was the chance that Bella could lose control and end up killing someone. That was just something that he couldn't let happen. I let them go for a bit longer before deciding to step in, Jacob just seemed to be getting more worked up and I could sense Bella feeling a little uncomfortable. The whole point of coming out today was to explain things to her, not try and guilt her out of changing into a vampire.

"Hey, guys. Let's not fight about this anymore." I gave Jacob's arm another comforting pat. "I'm sure Emily has some food made up, it's getting a little late so we should probably head back anyway."

A couple of hours had to have gone by; we had a lot to talk about. But there could be plenty more opportunities to talk some more. Both Jacob and Bella were quiet for a moment before they both nodded their heads. I grabbed Jacob's hand and together we started leading the way, Bella quickly moving to walk by my side.

* * *

The boys had beat us back to the house from their parameter check. Leah wasn't with them, which wasn't that surprising. After staying for dinner, Bella and I helped Emily clean up for a bit before heading home. We didn't say much, but unlike on the ride up, this silence wasn't uncomfortable.

Pulling into the driveway behind the truck, we got out and headed towards the front door together. Before she could open it, though, I put a hand on her arm to stop her.

"Bella, I just want you to know that I'm really glad we're talking again and that you're caught up on everything now," I told her. And I was. Now that she knew, maybe she would be more inclined to find a way around me becoming a vampire.

"I'm happy we're getting along too," Bella said, smiling at me. "I've really missed you, Alex."

I smiled back at her as she opened the door. We were met with the hall light on but the rest of the house dark and silent. No sound of Charlie watching TV in the living room, not nothing. It was kinda weird.

"Dad, we're home!" I called out, kicking off my shoes. There was no answer. "Dad?"

When there as still no answer, I turned to Bella who shrugged a shoulder before we both slowly heading into the house.

"You know, Edward could at least respect meal times," Charlie said suddenly, appearing in the doorway of the living room.

Because he seemed to appear out of thin air, Bella and I both jumped at the sound of his voice.

"Make a noise next time, Dad," I said, letting out a small chuckle. "And Bella was with me and Jake today, not Edward."

"Really?" Charlie looked surprised at that before a smile began to stretch across his face. "Good."

Seconds later, there was a knock at the door, which caused the three of us to turn our heads in the direction of the door. We all knew who it was and for once, Charlie didn't seem to care.

"I'll let you talk to him," was all he said before walking into the kitchen.

"I'll be upstairs," I said, heading towards the stairs as Bella turned around and opened the door. I had just sat down on my bed and was taking off my jacket when my door was opened and Edward walked in. "Can I help you?" I asked, surprised and a little annoyed that he just barged right in.

He just took a few steps further into my room, glancing for a moment at my vanity, before exiting without saying a word.

"Hey!" I cried, jumping up from my bed and leaving my room as well. I ran into my sister at the top of the stairs who just shrugged her shoulders at my look before walking into her room.

She didn't know what was going on either.

"Edward, what's wrong?" she asked, moving to his side. He was standing next to her bed, looking down at it.

"Someone was here," he said, turning to look at Bella with a grim expression on his face.

I turned my head to the side slightly, confused. "What do you mean 'someone was here'?"

He turned to me this time, his face not changing in the slightest. "Exactly what I said. Someone broke into your house."

"But they couldn't have, Charlie would have heard them and stopped them," I said, shaking my head. Who would be stupid enough to try and break into the Sheriff's house? Especially when he was home, I mean it was no secret; the cruiser was parked out front.

Bella, who was watching Edwards face intently, noticed the slight jerk in his jaw and understood who it was that had broken into the house.

"Because it was a vampire," she said quietly.

My jaw dropped and my heart stopped. A vampire had been in the house; my worse fear could have become a reality. Before I had a chance to say anything, Edward was pulling his phone out of his pocket and placing it to his ear. He spoke quickly for a few seconds before the device was returned to his pocket.

"I told Carlisle what happened, he's sending Jasper and Emmett here to track the scent. We're going to the house." Grabbing Bella's hands, he started leading her past me and out the door.

I stood there for a moment before following behind, catching up with them at the bottom of the stairs. "I'm coming with," I said.

Edward looked at me, a little skeptical, which I guess was justified seeing as I've been kinda cold towards him recently. But I had my reasons for wanting to go with to the Cullen house too. There was a vampire in my house with my dad, I wanted to know who it was and what they thought they were doing. Edward looked at me for a few seconds more before just nodding his head and heading towards the door.

A small smile appeared on my face as I headed into the kitchen where I told Charlie where we were going before heading out of the house as well. "Okay, don't kill us now, speed racer," I said as I got into the back seat of his Volvo.

* * *

I sat next to my sister on the Cullen's couch, watching as the Cullen's tried to figure out what had just happened at our house. Edward was pacing back and forth while keeping up a thousand-word-a-minute conversation with Carlisle, Esme, Rosalie, and Alice.

"Um, do you guys think you could maybe continue the conversation at a normal speed?" Bella asked feeling lost.

Edward stopped pacing just long enough to mutter a 'sorry' before pacing once more. Esme flashed the two of us an apologetic smile before nodding her head as well. "Sorry, girls." She then turned back to Carlisle who she had been talking too. "Could it have been a nomad passing through?"

Rosalie shook her perfect blonde head. "A passer-by wouldn't have left their father alive." She was still speaking fast, but not so fast that her words were a jumble of sounds. I could actually make out what she was saying, even though it was something that unnerved me.

It must have made Bella uncomfortable as well because one of her hands found mine and gripped it tight. I brought my other hand around and placed it on top, moving over an inch or two so that I was closer to her. Just being next to her was a great comfort.

"We tracked the scent about five miles south of the Swan house," Jasper announced as he and Emmett suddenly appeared in the room. "It stopped abruptly so they must have gotten away in a car."

Edward stopped pacing again and turned to look at his adoptive brother. "Someone orchestrated this—"

"Could it have been Victoria?" Carlisle asked.

Edward shook his head. "No, it has to be the Volturi."

"Checking to see if we've made the change?" Bella wondered, her voice tight. Maybe it was a bigger deal, us being changed, than Edward liked to think.

"I don't think it was the Volturi," Alice said, drawing attention to herself, "I've been watching Aro's decisions. I would have seen this."

Emmett cracked his knuckles, an excited smirk appearing on his face. "Sounds like we gotta catch this guy and get some answers out of him."

"We'll also need to take shifts at Bella and Alex's house—" Carlisle started only to be interrupted by Rosalie.

"_Another _protection detail?"

"_Rosalie_," Esme hissed.

"No, she's right," Bella said, causing everyone's heads to snap towards her. "You guys can't watch over me and Alex and Charlie, and search for the intruder, and for Victoria, and keep yourselves fed."

"I'm not about to let you fend for yourself, Bella," Edward said, turning towards my sister and taking a step towards her.

"And I'm not about to let you starve."

I gave a dramatic sigh, drawing attention to myself. "Looks to me like we're in a real pickle here. There's just so much going on that you guys can't possibly see to it all without something surely falling through the cracks. It's such a shame that there isn't another group of people out there that could possibly help us in any way."

Edward let out a sigh as well, picking up on what I was implying. "Alex," he started, "I don't think that—"

"Oh come on, Edward. You may not like it, but Jacob and the wolf pack can help with either looking for the intruder or for protection. He would never let anything happen to Bella or me. You can trust them."

"Alex, I just don't think—" Edward started again before I interrupted him.

"Edward, you don't really have a choice. Bella already gave a bunch of reasons why you guys can't possibly do it by yourselves."

"She's got a point, Edward," Jasper pointed out. "We may be a big coven, but even we can't do all of that by ourselves without something falling through. A little help might be good."

I flashed Jasper a smile before pulling out my phone. "Alright, problem solved. So I'll just let Jacob know what's going on then so he can tell Sam," I said before Edward could come up with another reason for them not to help.

* * *

Authors Note:: So, my writing is ten times better after midnight, I don't know why I don't just accept that. Anyway, I hope you guys liked this new chapter. It's starting to get a little easier to write seeing as things are starting to get more interesting. Next chapter will be the bonfire so that should be fun. Oh, and just a heads up, I'm working through all of my other Twilight stories leading up to this one, editing some of the over looked errors and adding some stuff to them. I should be posting the edited chapters soon, I'll post on my profile when I'm doing that. Thanks so much to the people who reviewed last chapter: **Layla347**, **Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967**, **The-Effulgent-One**, **Wikked**, **534667lc**, and Liah. And thank you so much to everyone who has favorited, is following, or who is just reading this story. You guys are awesome!


	8. Catching the Scent

**Chapter Eight: Catching the Scent **

"No, Jacob, okay, you gotta calm down and listen to me for a second."

Not even two minutes after I had sent him a text explaining briefly what had happened as soon as we had gotten home, my phone exploded. I got three quick texts wondering what had happened before he decided to call directly. As soon as I had accepted the call he was practically yelling in my ear.

I guess I should have known he wasn't going to be asleep like I had been hoping.

Seven pairs of eyes followed me as I made my way out of the room. I continued through the rooms until I ended up outside the front of the house. That was where I was now; leaning against the wall while trying to calm my boyfriend down enough to actually explain what had happened.

"How can I calm down when you send me a text telling me you were almost attacked by a vampire?" He growled on the other end of the line. I could almost see him in my mind, standing there with the phone pressed tightly to his ear; other fist clenched tight by his side, barely keeping his cool. God, I hope he didn't wolf out in the middle of this conversation.

"Okay, I'm pretty I only said that there had been an unknown vampire in the house. And they left Charlie untouched so I'm sure they weren't planning on harming Bella or I," I reasoned.

"That doesn't mean anything, Lexi," Jacob said before sighing heavily. "Look, just where are you right now? Are you still at home? I can be there in less than ten minutes."

"Yeah, Jacob, about that…" I trailed off; unsure of how to tell him I was at the Cullen's.

"What?" When I didn't answer right away, he seemed to get worked up all over again as his mind went into overdrive. "Lexi, where are you?"

I took a deep breath, taking the moment to clear my mind before giving Jacob another reason to freak out. "I'm at the Cullen's house, so you probably shouldn't come over…Edward showed up worried about Bella maybe two minutes after we got home which is when he noticed the smell in the house."

There was a silence as Jacob processed that. The same image as before flashed through my mind as I waited for him to say something.

"Are you going to be staying there all night?" The words came out tense as he spoke them through a clenched jaw.

"Honestly, I have no idea. Probably. Edward drove and I don't think he has any plans of letting Bella out of his sight anytime soon." I really couldn't see him wanted us to spend the night at our house now after what had just happened. Honestly, I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the night at our house tonight. Well, I mean, if Jacob was there I might…

"Can another one of the bloodsuckers give you a ride to the boundary line?"

"Okay, don't call them that," I said with a shake of my head, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Edward's a dick, but the rest of his family has been nothing but nice to me. They'll keep me safe for the night."

"Fine, but I want you to text me when you get home in the morning, okay?"

"That's actually why I sent you the text in the first place, Jake. The Cullen's want to put together a security detail on the house and I offered the Pack's services. They can't watch everything 24/7 and I knew you wouldn't want to leave everything down to them anyway. Could you meet us at the house tomorrow morning?"

"You're right, I don't trust them to do a good job. The Pack will help watch the house. I can be there at 7:30."

I smiled, happy that I would see Jacob again tomorrow. "Yeah, that sounds good. I'll see you then. Love you."

"Love you, too."

There was a moment's pause before the phone went dead. Removing my phone from my ear, I returned it to its home in my pants pocket before turning towards the door to reenter the house. I barely went an inch before I stopped dead.

"Jasper, Jesus Christ!" I cried, placing a hand to my fast beating heart.

"I'm sorry, did I scare you?" he asked, a slight laugh in his voice, which told me he wasn't sorry at all. The shit. "I gotta say, I can now see why Emmett enjoys it so much."

I shot him a glare. "You suck."

"Yeah, I know. So how did the boyfriend take the news? Did he fly off the handle?"

I just shrugged my shoulders before taking a seat on the front step. Jasper was quick to sit next to me. "He freaked at first, but I talked to him. He'll meet us at our house tomorrow morning."

"So we shouldn't be expecting him to come crashing through our windows sometime tonight?" Jasper asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Ha. Ha. Ha," I muttered sarcastically before shaking my head. "No, you shouldn't have to worry about him tonight. Your precious windows are safe."

An awkward silence fell between the two of us after that. I hated it. Jasper and I used to be so close and now I feel as though I had ruined that by ignoring him and the rest of his family while I ignored my sister. He probably thought I was a bitch, but I was just so mad at all of them for shutting me out, not saying goodbye and then not letting me know what was going on.

Sighing heavily, I turned to Jasper and spoke. "Jasper…I just want to say that I'm sorry for ignoring you the past couple of weeks…it was really childish of me."

"It's fine, Alex. I can understand why you did it…though I won't lie and say that it didn't hurt a bit," Jasper said honestly. "It did help that Alice saw you coming around, though."

I smiled at that. "Of course she did… So are we good?"

He was quiet for a moment before he smiled at me. "We're fine." Wrapping a cold arm around my shoulders, he pulled me close and ruffled my hair like an older brother messing with a sibling. "Come on, we should probably get you back in the house—get you set up for the night. We have school in the morning, remember."

"Yay," I muttered sarcastically, rolling my eyes though I let Jasper pull me to my feet.

Seeing as the Cullen's were vampires who didn't sleep, there were no beds in the house. Edwards apparently had something in his room for my sister to sleep on, but I was perfectly happy sleeping on the nice ass couch in the living room. There were plenty of pillows for me to choose from and Esme found a couple blankets for me to use. Not going to lie, it was almost comfier than sleeping on my own bed at home.

Almost.

* * *

"So, _Eddie, _are we allowed in our own house or…" I asked as Edward pulled up to the curb in front of the house. The cruiser was gone which meant dad wasn't home. Good. Now we don't have to answer awkward questions.

My blue eyes met Edward's in the rearview mirror, his darker than usual. He was hungry, which meant that he wasn't really in the mood for my snark. "I'm not your parole officer, Alex. You can go in if you want."

"Great." Getting out of the car, I quickly crossed the front lawn and took the front steps two at a time. Once inside, though, I didn't make it very far, just to the kitchen where I dug around in the cupboards until I found a box of pop tarts that were hiding on the top shelf.

Of course, Esme and Carlisle offered to make my sister and I breakfast, but we had both said no. Normally, I would have accepted the offer happily, they were both amazing cooks, but I really just wanted to get home and see Jacob.

Taking a seat at the table, I waited for my boyfriend to show up.

Not going to lie, I ended up waiting a bit longer than I thought I was going to. That doesn't mean I wasn't happy when he showed up with my sister in tow. As soon as I heard the front door open, I shot up from the table, leaving my second pop tart half finished and ran to the front entryway. As soon as I was around the corner, his arms were around me and my feet were off the floor.

"Seriously, Jake?" I asked through a laugh.

He didn't say anything, just held me closer and spun me around. It wasn't until he had sat me down on my feet, which were slightly uneasy from all the spinning, that he said something. "I've been worried all night."

"Well, you don't need to be worried anymore. I'm here. You're here. Everything's fine." I got up on my tiptoes and placed a kiss on Jacob's cheek before speaking again. "Now, let's lead you around the house wolf boy."

Bella followed quietly behind as I walked Jacob through the living room before heading upstairs. We started in the bathroom where he didn't find much, then moved into my room where he picked up the scent, but it wasn't nearly as strong as when we walked into Bella's room.

"Holy shit, Bells," he muttered, having to take a slight step back from how strong the scent was. "Sure as hell won't miss that if we cross it again. I think it's clear to say that the bloodsucker was really interested in you."

"We kind of figured. We just haven't decided who it was," Bella said before taking a step towards her closet. "Um, do you mind staying out in the hall while we get ready for school, Jacob? I don't think Edward wants us in the house by ourselves."

Jacob flashed me a look for a moment before turning back to Bella and nodding his head. "Yeah, I can wait out in the hall for you both."

I walked with him out of my sister's room before entering my own while Jacob stood outside. I knew I had to be quick, so I started rifling through my drawers until I pulled out a pair of leggings and a red sweater. Throwing them on, I shoved my feet into a pair of boots. I was just throwing my hair into a ponytail as I walked out of my room to a waiting Jacob.

"Did I beat Bella?" I asked, moving to stand in front of my boyfriend. Leaning against him, I rested my cheek against his chest.

He didn't have to answer as the door to Bella's room opened and my sister exited. Sweet. So I had beaten her. That was probably the first time that had ever happened. And who knew, it might be the last.

"All set?" I asked.

Bella just nodded her head and together the three of us made our way back downstairs. Bella and I grabbed our backpacks, which we had left downstairs the night before, and I stopped in the kitchen quickly to grab my unfinished pop tart—which I promptly shoved in my mouth— before we all headed outside. Edward was waiting for us, leaning against his car with his arms crossed over his chest. As soon as we were down the front steps, he detached himself from the car and started making his way over.

"The scent was strong. It'll be hard to miss when we cross it again," Jacob said. "So about this detail…"

The four of us met in the middle, Bella instantly moving to stand with Edward while I stayed by Jacob. We may have made up, but we still stood on different sides.

"My family can handle it," Edward answered, staring Jacob down.

"Yeah, cause I'm going to leave you and your family in charge of looking out for Lexi," Jacob growled, not being intimidated. "Cause you guys aren't the ones that want to turn her or Bella into leeches like you."

Both Edward and Jacob took a step towards each other. I guess I should have seen this coming; their species were enemies for a reason. We should have known better than to just expect them to get over that right away. My sister quickly moved to get between them while I grabbed Jacob by the arm to hold him in place.

"Guys, let's not loose focus on the situation at hand," Bella said, looking from both Edward to Jacob. "You both care about us and want to keep us safe. Well, the best way to do that is to work together."

I nodded my head. "Yeah, so put your big girl panties on and suck it up," I added. "It's not like we're asking you to be besties or anything, we don't expect you to swap the latest gossip with each other while you braid each other's hair."

"Exactly," Bella said before once again looking from one boy to the other. "Now, are you too willing to at least try working together?"

There was a long pause as Edward and Jacob just looked at each other, neither saying a word. Hell, I don't even think either of them was blinking. It was like some sort of masculinity contest. They couldn't full on go at each other so they seemed to be resorting to dealing with their problems like a pair of five-year-olds.

In the end, they seemed to give up their stupid game because they both nodded, agreeing to work with one another even though they didn't really want to.

"Okay, so we should probably figure stuff out now, right?" I asked, looking at Bella instead of Edward or Jacob.

"Yeah," my sister answered before turning to Jacob. "Would the pack prefer days or nights?"

Jacob took a second to answer before saying, "Nights."

Bella nodded her head before turning to Edward. "Will days work for your family?"

Edward nodded. "Esme, Emmett, and Rosalie can watch the house during the day. Jasper and Alice can help out in the afternoon. I'll be with you at night."

So Edward still didn't completely trust the wolves. Could have called that one. Jacob didn't say answer thing, it was almost as though he expected it. He just nodded his head at the vampire before turning to me.

"I'll be seeing you tonight," he said, looking down at me.

"I'll be waiting," I replied before getting up on my tiptoes once again to give my boyfriend a kiss. But this time, instead of a peck on the cheek, I kissed him on the lips, which he eagerly accepted. Placing his hand on the back of my neck, he pulled me closer, deepening the kiss. A smile appeared on my lips as I wrapped my arms around his next, wanting to be closer as well.

Sooner than I would have liked, we pulled away and I was left standing with a goofy grin on my face and butterflies in my stomach. Jacob just smirked before turning to Edward and my sister, pleased at the expression on the vampire's face.

"Bella. Leech," he said, nodding at each other them in turn before jogging over to the tree line where he disappeared between the trees.

* * *

Authors Note:: Hey guys! So this chapter is a lot shorter than I had originally planned but at least is has Alex and Jasper reconnecting and some Jalex. It's just that I've been working a shit ton as well as packing for school that I haven't had as much time to write as I would have liked. I'm moving into my dorm tomorrow. I don't know when I'll be able to post again and I just really wanted to get a chapter out for you guys. Now, I got an idea for you. You may have noticed, but I have a new poll up on my profile. Please take it. Classes start very soon and I think my posting schedule will be even more messed up than it is now. I've been thinking about it for a while now and I think that if I have a tumblr for Alex, I would have a better chance at giving you guys some content. You could ask her questions, I could post WIPs for chapters, and who knows what else. But I just wanna know if that's something that you guys are into. Thanks so much to: **Layla347**, **askousen44**, **The-Effulgent-One**, **534667lc**, **Crystal-Wolf-Guardain-967**,** clancy1018,** and **Iris RainbowWolf **for the awesome reviews! And thanks everyone else for following, favoriting, and reading this story!

10-27-2015: I'm sorry that this is not a new chapter but instead a re-post because chapter one was split into two parts. There is a new section there though so make sure you check that out.


	9. Girls Night

**Chapter Nine: Girls Night **

Okay, so it's a really weird feeling to come home from school and know that there are people watching your house.

Bella had to work after school so I arrived home by myself. For a while, I forgot that little fact and entered the house like normal. Setting my backpack down by the door, I moved into the living room and turned on the TV. It wasn't until I was sitting there for a few minutes that I realized something was off, like I was being watched. As though to confirm my suspicion, something suddenly struck the window behind my head. It was then that I remembered that we once again had a security detail.

Turning around, I saw that Jasper and Emmett were both standing outside, dressed in black hoodies so that they blended in with the shadows of the woods. To be honest, it was Jasper's golden head that really gave them away. That and their pearly white skin.

As soon as the two boys noticed me looking at them, Emmett smiled widely before once again throwing a small rock at the window. I shook my head at him before smiling as well and getting up from the couch. Heading towards the back door, I slipped my feet into a pair of rubber boots before exiting the house.

"Hey punk, you break my window and I'm suing you for everything you've got," I teased as I crossed the lawn and made my way towards their little hiding spot.

"What makes you think I would break the window?" Emmett asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "They're pebbles."

I raised my own eyebrow right back at him. "I don't know, maybe the fact that you have vampire strength. That pebble becomes a bullet from a gun when thrown by you."

Emmett stood there for a moment before nodding his head. "Good point."

"So how long have you been out here?" I asked, standing in front of the two boys, crossing my arms over my chest. I knew Jasper had come after school, but I didn't remember seeing Emmett outside earlier.

"Since, I don't know, around four this morning?" He gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Nothing to report for when you were at school. The most interesting thing that has happened today was watching you rush around trying to get ready."

"Yeah, well, that happens pretty much every morning. So if you'll be out here tomorrow, you're likely to see the exact same thing."

The next hour or so I just sat outside and got caught up with Emmett and Jasper. To say I had missed them both would be a huge ass understatement. They both told me what they had been up to while they were away months ago. And, like the older brothers I saw them as, they teased me about Jacob.

I guess I should have seen that coming. I just think that matters were made worse given the fact that Jacob was a werewolf.

God, I hope the three of them are never in a room together.

"So how do you get past the wet dog smell?" Emmett asked, his nose crinkling slightly.

I rolled my eyes at him. "He doesn't smell like a wet dog to me. Just like you guys don't smell like whatever bad thing they think you smell like."

"Take our word for it, they stink," Emmett muttered before suddenly snapping his head towards the direction of woods.

Jasper turned his head as well. I could just make out the hint of a smirk appearing on his face as he looked through the trees. "Speaking of wet dogs…"

I couldn't see what it was that they were both looking at, but going off of his comment; I would bet that the wolves were nearby. And it would probably make sense seeing as it was starting to get dark. I guess I didn't notice as I was too caught up in Jasper and Emmett's company.

"Changing of the guards," I said softly, smiling as two large wolves appeared behind the vampires. I've spent enough time with the pack now to recognize the two as Embry and Quil based off their markings.

"I guess that's goodnight then, Al. It was good catching up. Stop by the house soon," Emmett said, winking at me before taking off into the woods, around the back of the house and away from the wolves.

I turned towards Jasper who put his hands in him pockets while he looked back at me. His posture was stiff, but he wasn't going to be chased away from the wolves just yet. I walked up to him and quickly gave him a hug to say goodbye. He removed one of his hands from his pocket and put it around me as well before pulling it back and returning it to its original position.

"I'll see you at school," he said before following his brother into the woods.

Embry stepped forward and lowered his head, a low sound rumbling deep in his throat. Now, the others weren't as easy to understand as Jacob, but I could only assume that he was voicing his displeasure for finding me hanging out with Emmett and Jasper.

"Oh, hush," I teased, shaking my head at the furry boy. "Those two have been nothing but nice to me. They're about as much as family to me as you guys are."

Quil decided to put in his two-cents by stepping forward to stand next to Embry. Letting out a sound between a huff and a sneeze, he shook his large head. They probably didn't want to agree seeing as Paul had gotten into a fight with Emmett just a few days ago. And they have a right to that opinion. But I wasn't going to share it.

I may have chosen their side, but I had no plan of completely cutting ties with the Cullen's. Not now anyway.

"Okay, well I have homework. See you later boys."

Nodding my head to the boys, I gave a small wave before turning around and heading back to house were kicked off my boots before returning to the living room. I had sat there watching TV for maybe fifteen minutes before Charlie arrived home.

* * *

"I can come and help, too, if you want. I'm sure she won't mind." I offered as I leaned against the closed locker door next to my sister's.

She grabbed a book from the top shelf and placed it in her backpack. "Yeah, I don't think it should be too long. How many announcements can there really be?" She then lowered her voice and brought her head closer to mine. "Plus, I kind of what to spend some time with Angela. You know… _before_."

I smiled. "I understand. Just try your best to have your handwriting be legible," I teased before detaching myself from the locker and heading towards the front of the school and the parking lot.

Getting into the Rabbit, I headed home and started beaming as soon as I pulled into the driveway. Stepping out of the car, I rested my arms on top of the open door. "What are you doing here?" I asked, looking at my boyfriend who stood leaning with his back against the front door, his arms crossed over his bare chest.

"Why," he asked, removing himself from the door. "Are you not happy to see me? Is it cause I'm not one of your vamps?" he teased.

"Oh shut up, of course I'm happy to see you," I said, closing the door. Walking towards the front door, I met him at the bottom of the stairs and wrapped my arms around his waist. "I'm always happy to see you."

"I thought I would spend the afternoon with you seeing as I'm on watch tonight," he said as soon as we let go of one another, answering my question. "That and there's going to be a bonfire this weekend and I wanted to invite you and Bella."

"Sounds like fun! Bella is helping a friend right now. But she should be home in an hour at the latest," I said before heading back to the car to get my bag.

He quickly took it from me and slung it over his shoulder before the two of us headed into the house. Taking my bag from Jacob, I sat it on the kitchen table while Jacob headed into the living room. Heading towards the fridge, I grabbed a coke for Jake and a glass of water for myself before picking up the half eaten bag from the counter and joining my boyfriend on the couch.

For a while, we just sat there, not saying anything as we watched some car restoration show on TV. It was nice. Comfortable. It was normal. For a few minutes, I was able to pretend like my life wasn't about to self-destruct in just a few weeks time.

"So who are you on watch with tonight? Sam?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"Actually, no. I'm with Paul tonight," Jacob replied, taking a sip from his coke.

"Oh. Well, make sure you two are nice too…" I trailed off, unsure of who was on watch right now. Turning around, I looked out the window and scanned the backyard. Alice stepped out from the shelter of the trees and gave me a small wave. "Alice and whoever she's with," I finished.

"It's the blonde girl," Jacob told me, not even bothering to turn around.

"Rosalie?"

"Sure." My boyfriend didn't seem to care too much to learn her name. "Anyway, I smelt Blondie when I got here."

_So she must have been the one to start the watch this morning, _I thought to myself. Grabbing my water, I took a sip. Returning the glass to the coffee table, I tucked my feet up under me before resting my head against Jacob. He was hot, warming my skin instantly, but I didn't pull away. I was learning to deal with it.

We sat like this for at least an hour,

Our silences were comfortable, broken only every once and a while to comment on either the show or random moments about our days that had sprung to our minds. After about an hour, Jacob got hungry so we moved from the living room to the kitchen. There wasn't a whole lot in the fridge; Bella or I really had to go shopping. We did have some leftover pork chops though so I pulled those out and popped them into the microwave.

"I guess we're going to the diner for supper tonight," I commented, setting the reheated food in front of my boyfriend. "There is literally nothing left."

"Sorry," Jacob muttered through a mouth full of food, having started eating as soon as the plate was on the table.

I just shrugged my shoulders. "It's fine, you can't help it you need to eat a shit ton to stay in tiptop shape."

Once he was finished, I decided to do the dishes since a decent sized pile was starting to form. Neither Bella of I cleaned out our cereal bowls this morning as we left a little later than usual.

Running the water, I started rolling up my sleeves before getting to work cleaning the dishes. "Hey, do you mind getting me my glass from the living room?"

Jacob said nothing as he got up from the table and exited the kitchen. While he was gone, I heard the ever-familiar sound of the truck pulling into the driveway.

"Hey, Bella's home! You can tell her about the bonfire before you have to wolf out," I commented over my shoulder.

There was a moment's pause before the front door opened and my sister's voice filled the house. "Alex?"

"I'm in the kitchen!" I called out, arms covered in bubbles and water.

A few seconds passed before there was a loud growl as well as the sharp sound of glass shattering. Whipping my head around, I saw my sister and Alice standing a few steps behind me while a not so happy Jacob filled the doorway.

"What…" I was just starting to say before Bella was crying out, "Jacob!"

In a flash of dark brown hair, my sister grabbed a rag from the counter top before rushing over to my boyfriend. Throwing the rag over his hand, she clamped down on it before leading him over to the sink where I stood. Blood quickly began seeping through the rag, leaving a large red splotch.

"Bella, will you calm down," Jacob said as my sister started digging around in the drawers for another rag. "It's fine.

"What happened?" I asked, looking up at Jacob's face and ignoring the growing red spot that marked the white hand towel.

Jacob pulled his hand from Bella and removed the rag before carefully looking at his palm. Three deep looking gashes cut across it, all of them angry and red. "I broke your glass. Sorry."

Finally finding a rag, Bella put it under the faucet to wet it before reaching for Jacob's hand once more. "Let me clean it out a bit, then we'll you to the hospital to get it stitched up."

"Don't worry about it," Jacob muttered, pulling his hand away once more before carefully pulling out a few small shards off glass from the wound and placing them on the counter.

"Jake, what are you doing?!" Bella freaked.

I just shook my head. "Okay, Bells, you need to calm down. He's fine."

As though to prove the point, Jacob ran his hand under the warm water still flowing from the sink for a few seconds to clean away the blood before pulling it out and showing my sister his palm. Three ugly scars now stood where the gashes had been. Pretty soon there wouldn't even be those.

"He heals fast, remember?"

Bella stood there with her mouth open for a while before closing it. "I guess I didn't."

"So is Paul outside?" I asked, looking at Alice who stood off to the side, a slightly disgusted look on her face.

Her eyes flickered to Jacob for a moment before she turned to me. "Yeah, the other wolf just showed up so I thought I would stop by and tell you something when Bella got home."

I guess she didn't know Jacob was still in the house. "So what did you want to tell me?"

"We're having a sleepover this weekend. Tomorrow and Saturday." A light filled Alice's yellow eyes for a second as she spoke.

Next to me, Jacob tensed up, probably not likely the idea of me having a sleepover with a vampire. I elbowed him before he could say anything before smiling.

"Cool. That leaves time for me to go down to the bonfire Jacob and the others are having on Sunday," I said just as happily. Alice didn't seem to like that but before she could say anything, I grabbed Jacob's hand, now fully healed, and started pulling him out of the kitchen. "We should probably be going. See you later."

Stopping at the back door to put on my boots, Jacob and I exited the house and headed over to the tree line.

"So do I get permission to go to that sleepover this weekend," I asked, raising an eyebrow. Like Jacob could keep me from doing something I wanted to. I loved him, but he didn't own me.

"You know how I feel about them. But I trust you," Jacob said with a sigh. "Plus I get you on Sunday so the weekend isn't totally going to bomb."

"Good answer," I said, getting up on my tiptoes to kiss him on the lips. Right away his arms were around my waist, pulling me closer. He picked me up slightly so that my feet lifted off the ground causing me to smile into the kiss. Ending the kiss, I wiggled out of his arms until my feet were on the ground again. "Okay, big guy. Time to go to work."

Jacob smiled down at me before kissing the top of my head. "Yes, ma'am." With one last look, he took off between the trees and disappeared.

* * *

Alice picked Bella and me up in Edward's bright and shiny Volvo Friday after school. We had maybe ten minutes to pack a bag before she was honking the horn to announce her arrival. Meeting my sister at the top of the stairs, we shared a look before going downstairs and out the front door. The backdoor and passenger door were open and waiting. A song that I had never heard before was playing on the radio and Alice was singing along in a pitch that had to be at least two octaves higher than the artist singing. Getting into the back seat, I closed the door behind my and buckled my seatbelt.

"So are you guys ready for this sleepover?" Alice cried excitedly to be heard over the music as soon as Bella had closed her door.

"Well, I've never had a sleepover with a vampire before," I yelled, "So I'm kinda excited."

Alice turned down the music before speeding away from the curb. "Yay! I'm so excited. You guys have no idea. I've never had a sleep over before!"

The drive to the Cullen's house was fast, but I mean, that wasn't that surprising. I may not like it, but I was starting to get used to how fast all the Cullen's drove. Pulling to a stop in front of the house, we were just getting out when Alice started bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Oh, do you guys wanna see my new car?"

"You got another car?" I asked.

Alice nodded her head before grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the garage door. "You have to see it, it's beautiful."

There was a fancy looking keypad on the side of the wall and Alice made quick work of pressing in the code. Maybe half a second passed before the doors were moving up to reveal a very impressive garage. Three expensive looking cars were parked inside; Carlisle's sleek black car, Rosalie's red convertible, and a new bright yellow car.

"It's exactly like the one I stole in Italy," Alice told me before letting out a content sigh. Moving over to the car, she lightly stroked the yellow paint of the hood. "Isn't she gorgeous?"

"It's a very nice car." I laughed.

"Right!" I could tell Alice was really ecstatic to have this car. "Edward says I can't drive it around town though so we're stuck at the house." There was a short pause as she looked sad before smiling once again. "Good thing I have a list of stuff for us to do!"

Grabbing my hand once again, she pulled me into the house, stopping only to close the garage door. Bella had already walked into the house and was waiting for us in the living room. The house smelled amazing so that meant that Esme was cooking. Alice indeed did have a list of things that she wanted us to door including manicures and pedicures, watching movies, pillow fights, and makeovers.

We started with the manicures and pedicures. I swear; Alice was like a professional. Once my nails were all painted a very pretty shade of blue with cute little swirls on them, I promised never to paint my own nails again. Next we ate some of the amazing Italian food that Esme had made. As we left to go do the next activity, Esme promised to bring us cookies when they were finished.

Next, Alice really wanted to do makeovers.

"Come on! I have so many new outfits that I want you guys to try on! And I can do your make really nice!" Alice seemed to be an unending ball of energy, never taking long to stop. Like, she sat in the middle of us while we were eating, just bouncing away on the seat until we were finished.

"No dresses, though, Alice," I tried to negotiate. It was starting to get a little late and I didn't really want to change too many times. I really just wanted to put on my pajamas and watch one of the movies she had gotten. That was coming after I guess.

"Awww, Alex, you're no fun." Alice pouted, flashing me a puppy dog eye in the middle of the stairs.

I looked at her, trying to be strong but in the end crumbling. "Okay, but no more than two."

"Yay!"

Okay, so she ended up getting me to wear for dresses. The last one I asked to put on because it was simply gorgeous. It was a dark blue, every close to the color of my nails, with a full skirt that was shorter in the front and longer in the back. Alice had done my makeup all nice, I felt like a movie star going to a big premier. Excusing myself from the room while Alice made up my sister, I walked down the stairs and into the kitchen to get some water.

"Oh, hey, Rosalie," I said, pausing slightly when I turned the corner and found the beautiful blonde vampire sitting at the counter by herself. Esme must have left to do something else while the cookies were in the oven.

"Alex," Rosalie said my name slowly, her eyes meeting mine. "Are you having fun?"

I'm not going to lie, I was a little thrown. Up until now, Rosalie hasn't ever really spoken to me. And, I mean, I guess I could respect that. I was a human. She was a vampire. My sister and I seemed to cause a lot of problems for her and her family. But if she was going to talk to me now, I wasn't going to be rude and just ignore her.

"Yeah, a lot of fun actually. And the sleepover really seems to be a lot of fun for Alice."

The corner of Rosalie's perfectly plump lip rose slightly in a half smile. "Good. She's been under a lot of pressure lately."

I nodded my head. "I bet. Keeping an eye out for both Victoria and that big scary head vampire dude. It can't be easy for her." I remembered just a couple days ago Alice commenting that she was watching their moves, looking into the future to see what they would do next and if it would involve us.

"Yes. It's nice to see her taking a break."

There was a pause as I got myself a glass of water, Rosalie following me with her eyes as I made my way across the kitchen. Taking a sip, I placed the glass on the counter before meeting Rosalie's gaze once again.

"Hey, Rosalie. I just want to say that I'm really sorry for the danger Bella and I seem to constantly bring your family. It seems to be like every other month. I can understand why you probably don't like us that much. But I just want to say thank you for helping. It does make me feel better that you guys are looking out for us." I can't speak for Bella, but I really was thankful that the Cullen's were protecting us. They put themselves on the line for us and without them I probably would have been killed months ago when James and his group came through town… Or maybe not seeing, as he only found out about Bella and I while hanging out with the Cullen's. They could have just let him have us instead of protecting us like they did.

"I don't dislike you, Alex," Rosalie said, surprising me once again. "Actually, I kind of admire you. You understand that there is more to this life than beauty and eternal life. You understand what you would be giving up and you are fighting to keep it." She paused, giving me a small smile. "Would you like to hear my story, Alex? I think you might see that we aren't as different than you might think."

I sat there, quietly for a moment, thinking about what Rosalie had just said, that we probably were more similar than first glance. Slowly, I started to nod my head. I had only ever really heard Jaspers story and would love to hear Rosalie's. So that's what I told her.

* * *

Authors Note:: Happy Halloween! I hope you guys have a great night! I finally got this chapter finished, and I have to say, I really like it. I hope you all do as well. Next chapter is the council, I promise. Check out Alex's tumblr page if you haven't already, I've posted a few WIP's there already and plan on posting more. Thank you so so sooooo much to all the people that have reviewed the last chapter. I honestly love all of you, they make my day. Thanks for all the follows and favorites as well! I'm going to try and get the next chapter out sooner, but it may be at least a couple weeks. School just has me busy. Anyway, love you guys!


	10. Stories and Campfires

**Chapter Ten: Stories and Campfires **

Rosalie started her tale slowly, keeping her eyes on me the entire time to see my reaction. And I held her golden gaze, barely blinking as I took in the words of her story. She told me about her dad and his job at the bank, her mother, her two brothers, her friend Vera and Vera's little baby Henry. How perfect her life was until Royce King came into the picture.

"He was so handsome, with light blonde hair, lighter than mine, and pale blue eyes. He told me that he liked when we were together, me on his arm, because people would look at us. And I liked that too. There were plenty of parties and dances and roses. There were lots of roses. He sent me a bouquet of roses every night of our courtship, my room was overflowing with them."

There was a pause as her face hardened. For a moment, I thought about reaching out and taking her hand or something but I can't lie and say that I wasn't still a little frightened/ intimidated by her, especially because of how her eyes seemed to go from their golden honey color to a blazing fire.

"I was at Vera's one night, spending time with her and little Henry who was just learning to sit up on his own. As I sat in her small little living room, watching that adorable little boy with his curly hair and dimples, I couldn't help but picture my own little babies. Blonde haired and blue eyed angels who would run around and play together in the front yard of our big house.

"But it was getting late and I needed to get home. So gathering my coat around me, I went out into the cold April night and couldn't help but think about how cool it was and that the wedding was in a week. All I could think about was how I didn't want to move the wedding inside.

"I was close to home when I came across them, a few streets. There were a couple of men standing under a broken streetlamp, all of them drunk. It wasn't until he called my name that I realized how well dressed the men where. It was Royce and a couple of his friends, also sons of rich and powerful fathers. There was this one man, in particular, a friend of a friend who had come into town."

What Rosalie tells me next stopped me short, my breath catching in my throat as she told me about what had happened and how Carlisle found her. By the time she had finished her story, I sat there like a statue.

"Thank you, for sharing your story with me, Rosalie," I said after a short silence that had followed the end of her tale. I felt terrible for what had happened to her. But it felt kinda... good... to have someone on my side. Who would give up the chance at immortality and beauty in exchange for the chance at a family and normal life?

Rosalie gave me a small smile before speaking. "You should probably head back upstairs now. I think Alice will be missing you. I would hate to be the one that ruins her slumber party. She's been looking forward to it for the last few days now."

"Why don't you come and join us?" I ask. This was her house as well. Why should she have to remain hidden and not participate? Sure it wasn't like she was told she couldn't join in. But we hadn't really sought her out either.

She seemed to consider it for a moment, a little hesitant before nodding her head. "I think Alice would like that. She's always trying to get me to do sister things with her when she's bored."

"I'm excited, too. I think this is going to be fun," I said, grabbing my glass of water before heading back towards the stairs.

"I can do your hair if you'd like," Rosalie offered as she climbed the steps behind me. "If you have your makeup done and are wearing that dress, you're hair might as well be done as well."

I guess she had a point. I mean, my makeup looked like a professional had done it and the dress was absolutely stunning. It seemed a shame to just have my normal wavy hair up in a bun. "I would _love_ for you to do my hair."

Reaching the top of the stairs, we crossed the long hallway and made our way towards Alice's room. Pushing open the door, I walked in and found my sister trapped at Alice's vanity with the short dark haired applying a dark red lipstick.

"Hey guys, look who I found to do hair," I said.

"Oh, Rose!" Alice exclaimed, her lips stretching into a grin that showed off her perfect white teeth. She watched her adoptive sister walk slowly into the room before turning back to Bella and touching up the lip color.

Seeing as none of the Cullen's slept, there was no bed in the room. There was a fancy bench/ chair thing though so I took a seat on that while Rosalie stood behind me. I have no idea how she managed to do it, but she twisted my wavy mess of hair into an elegant bun of loose braids. A few chunks of hair hung free, though, framing my face.

"Dang, Rosalie, that is beautiful!" I muttered in awe as I turned my head this way and that, unable to look away from my reflection. "I almost don't even want to go to sleep because I don't want to ruin this work of art."

"Oh, thank you, Alex," Rosalie said quietly, a corner of her lips turned up in a faint smile. "You're welcome."

"God, I should hire you and Alice to make me pretty on days when I'm too lazy to do my hair or makeup myself." With one last look in the mirror, I turn away and walk over to Alice's closet, which is filled with fashionable, very expensive, outfits.

"Oh, Alex, you know I would do that for free anytime," Alice assured happily as she unzipped the back of my dress so that I could take it off. As beautiful as it was, I wanted to get comfy and put on my pajamas.

"I know, but I have to admit there are days when I am perfectly happy going out with my hair up, no makeup, and a comfy sweater," I admit. "But there may be a time when I call on you.

"And I will be ready."

I give a small chuckle and shake of my head as I hand her the dress to be hung back up in the closet. Walking over to my bag, I throw my oversized shirt over my bra and step into a pair of sleep shorts. My sister changes out of the dress she had been forced into by Alice and changes into a pair of sweats and a t-shirt before the four of us head downstairs to watch a movie.

I can't even remember what Alice had placed into the DVD player because I was out like a light before the previews were even finished.

* * *

"So what did you do all night trapped in a house with vampires?"

"It wasn't that bad. I mean, Alice made me and Bella try on dresses and have makeovers last night, but other than that it was typical girl stuff. We watched movies and junk," I said into my phone, which was balanced behind my ear and shoulder as I pulled on a clean pair of sweatpants.

We had just finished baking a cake and things had gotten a little messy. I'm used to just buying a box of mix and following the instructions. The Cullen's apparently have to make everything from scratch so I ended up getting flour all over: on my pants, on my shirt, in my hair. I feel really bad for Esme who insisted on cleaning up the mess so that we could go and change before our next sleepover activity.

Seeing as I had forgotten to call Jacob the night before, I figured I should probably call him now so that he didn't worry.

"Then what are you going to do tonight? Can't you just come over and hang out with us?" Jacob asked.

I rolled my eyes though he couldn't see. "I'm not going to do that to Alice. She's so excited for this sleepover. Plus she still has more stuff planned."

There was a sigh on the other end of the line. I think he was really hoping that I would just ditch to spend the day with him. "Are you, at least, coming over tomorrow?"

"Yes, I'm still coming over tomorrow," I promised before pulling on a sweater. "I'm leaving in the morning, stopping at home to take a shower and change, then I'm going to head straight over to your place."

That seemed to brighten his mood. "Awesome. Bella's still coming too, right?"

"Yeah. Edward comes back tomorrow so I'm not sure when she'll come, though."

"Alex, are you done yet? The movies about to start!" Alice called suddenly from downstairs.

"Hey, listen Jake. I gotta go. We're about to watch a movie." I say hurriedly. "I'll see you tomorrow. I love you."

"Love you too, Lexi."

Ending the call. I stick my phone in my pocket before exiting the bathroom I was changing in. "Coming!" I yell, running to Alice's room where I drop off my dirty clothes before heading downstairs to the living room where Alice, Rosalie, and Bella sit waiting for me on the couch.

I plop down next to Rosalie, wrapping one of the blankets that is folded up on one of the cushions around my shoulders before cuddling in.

* * *

"I don't know why your sister didn't just come over with you," Jacob muttered, leaning against the front of the truck.

Sunday morning I had gotten up earlier than I usually would and asked Rosalie to give me a ride home. She seemed happy to do it, quickly agreeing. We didn't talk a whole lot during the trip from her house to mine, our friendship, at least, I'm pretty sure we were on the way to becoming friends, was still in its early stages. Once inside, I shared a quick breakfast with Charlie before jumping into the shower, getting dressed, and heading out to La Push to spend the day with Jacob. It was nice, just him and me spending time together. We played video games for a long time—something that I was getting pretty good at if I do say so myself. We then had lunch at Emily's which was delicious as always. We then spent the afternoon hanging out with the boys before I got a call from Bella saying that she was ready to come over but that she would need us to pick her up at the boundary line.

"Because Edward is an over protective grandpa," I joked, laughing to myself before speaking seriously. "Someone is after us... or her, and he was worried while he was away. I don't know. You can't really blame him for wanting to spend time with her for a little bit before she goes somewhere that he can't follow. I mean, you can't tell me that you don't worry about me."

I looked up him, raising an eyebrow while I waited for his response.

He didn't even hesitate for a second before answering. "Of course, I worry about you. You just spent two nights in their house."

I smiled up at him, leaning into his shoulder.

"I still think this whole drop off thing is stupid, though," Jacob continued after placing a kiss on the top of my head.

"Would you rather him just drop her off at your house?" I asked.

"Oh, hell no."

A giggle escaped my lips. "I thought so."

We waited another two minutes before Edward's shiny Volvo came around the corner. Pulling over to the side so that others could pass, they paused in the car before Edward and Bella got out and started making their way towards us.

"Doesn't he own a shirt?" Edward asked as he came to a stop maybe a foot away. If I had to guess, I would say that was where the line was.

"When you look like this, you don't need a shirt," Jacob said, smirking as his crossed his arms over his bare chest. I bit my lip to keep from smiling as he puffed out his chest a little so as to make his chest seem bigger.

Across the way, I watched as Bella rolled her eyes before turning to Edward. "I'm good here, you should go."

"I hate being away from you." He pulled my sister close and then bent down and gave her a passionate kiss. My sister had no objections as her hands found the front of his shirt and pulled him even closer. This went on for a few seconds before I cleared him throat loudly so as to get them to stop.

"Okay, that is more PDA than I would ever care to see," I mutter, pushing away from the front of the truck before heading towards the door. "Don't worry, Eddie, we'll keep her nice and safe for the night and I have her back home at a responsible time."

Jacob followed my lead, an amused smile on his face as he moved towards the driver's seat. The two of us got into the truck before looking through the windshield at the pair who had not moved.

"Bella, come on!" I yelled, motioning for her to come with my hand.

She gave Edward one last look before turning and making her way towards the trunk. Once she was seated next to me, Jacob started the truck and we made our way into La Push. There were still a couple hours to kill before the bonfire so we spent it hanging out in Jacob's garage like old times. It was a little awkward at first, but we managed to work through it relatively quickly. Once it started to get dark, though, and we heard people start to arrive, we moved to the house were Jacob put on a hoodie before we headed out.

"So, are you positive that it's okay that I'm going? Because I don't want to be, like, a party crasher or anything," Bella said as we made our way out back behind Jacob's house where the bonfire was being held. She still felt a little uncomfortable around the members of the wolf pack seeing as she was what the boys had nicknamed her 'the vampire girl'. She didn't want to be there if she wasn't wanted.

"Bella, it's fine," I assured with a heavy sigh. She'd been freaking out about this for at least ten minutes now.

"Yeah, it's fine. But if you wanted to get technical about it, you would be a Council Meeting crasher," Jacob said off-handedly as he draped an arm around my shoulder. "We kinda thought that it would be good for you two to hear the histories."

"Whoa, wait a second. The history histories? Of the pack? Aren't they supposed to be… secret?" Bella asked, stopping in her tracks. "I mean, I guess I can understand Alex, but me…"

I raised an eyebrow at my sister. "Do you really think you're not involved in all of this?"

Jacob nodded his head. "Lexi's right, we all have a role to play. Besides, this is the first time that Quil, Seth, and Leah are hearing them, too." There was a pause before he shrugged his shoulders. "You guys will be the first outsiders, though."

"Wow, I guess I should have dressed better than," Bella said.

"Jake!" a young voice cried suddenly as we started walking towards the fire again.

"How's it going, Seth?" I asked as the young boy ran up and stopped in front of Jake.

He cast me a quick look, saying a greeting and giving a wave before turning his attention back to my boyfriend. I couldn't even be mad at him for brushing me off so quickly as just looking at him starting at Jacob like a little puppy was just too cute.

"It's about time you got here, man. Paul's been stuffing his face nonstop."

"Of course, he was. Big Brother doesn't know how to share," I muttered under my breath, causing Seth to look at me.

"Yeah, but you guys don't have to worry cause I saved you some burgers," Seth reported proudly.

"Good looking out, Bro," Jacob said, drawing the young wolf's attention once more before introducing the boy to my sister. "Bella, this is Seth Clearwater, Leah's younger brother. He's the newest member of the pack."

"Newest, bestest, brightest—" Seth started, his tone arrogant.

"_Slowest—" _Jacob finished, quickly wrapping his arm around Seth's neck and pulled him into a headlock, dragging him off towards the campfire.

I turned to Bella and rolled my eyes. "Boys," I muttered before smiling and following after the pair.

Many of those around the campfire greeted us warmly as my sister and I walked over to where the food was set up. Grabbing two plates, I stacked four burgers one on top of another while filling the other plate with a mountain of chips. Bella followed behind me like a confused puppy, still feeling slightly uncomfortable around the wolves when she was used to chillier company. She put a few chips on her own plate though I wasn't so sure that she was actually going to eat them. Lastly, I made my way over to the cooler that was set up under the table and asked Bella to grab a few drinks. She grabbed two bottles of water and a Mt Dew for Jacob.

Once I had enough food, I walked over to where Jacob had taken a seat next to Seth. Handing him the plate so I could sit down, I got myself settled next to him before taking a burger from the plate and taking a bite. After Bella had taken the seat next to me, Billy started his tale.

He started with how, although they were a small tribe, the Quileute's had magic in their blood. They had warriors who had the ability to transform into wolves and used this ability to protect their tribe from their enemies and whatever threat might happen upon them. They were called spirit warriors. One day a creature that could only be a vampire from the way Billy described him, made his way onto their land and killed some of their people. It wasn't until the two warriors phased and used their sharp teeth and claws to bring the vampire to an end. They finished the job by burning his remains.

The story continued with the vampire's mate appearing in the village, leaving a trail of bodies and fear behind her as she avenged her fallen love. The chief elder was the only spirit warrior left as his son had been killed, so he phased and took on the female vampire alone. Either because he was older than the other worries or because he was taking on the vampire alone, he quickly found himself being bested. Fearing for her husband, the chief's wife, who was his third, grabbed a knife and did the only thing she could think off to help; stabbed herself. With the scent of fresh blood in the air, the female vampire stopped and turned towards the bleeding women. It was just distraction enough for the chief to get the upper hand and kill the vampire.

The tribe where a select few had magic running through their veins was saved by someone who possessed no magic at all. Just courage.

"Over time, our enemies have disappeared. But one remains—the Cold ones," Billy concluded, looking around the fire and those who hadn't dared move while he spoke. "Our magic awakens only when they come near. And we sense it now; feel the threat in our blood. Something terrible is coming, and we must be ready. All of us."

I moved closer to Jacob, an uneasy feeling settling in the pit of my stomach as I knew his words were right. Something terrible _was_ coming, I just wasn't so sure that I was ready for it.

* * *

Authors Note:: I swear, this has been the hardest opener that I have ever had to write. I just couldn't figure out how I wanted to start it! Ugh, but I figured it out and I hope you guys liked it. I also hope that the fact it has so many different character interactions will help you guys not be mad at me for taking so long. Now I would just like to point out that there is a poll on my profile that pertains to this story. It would be awesome if you could take it so that I can plan ahead. Thank you, everyone, who reviewed last chapter and all the people who have favorited, followed, or is just reading alone. School starts up again the 11th, just a heads up. I really want to be able to post at least one more time before that. Thank you!


	11. Finals begin

**Chapter Eleven: Finals begin**

While my sister was worrying about her finals, I couldn't stop myself from thinking about what we had learned on Sunday during the bonfire. With the looming threat of some unknown vampire hanging over our heads yet again, Bella and I were once more facing constant panic in the back of our minds. We needed some time just for ourselves where we didn't have to worry about sides and vampires or werewolves and could focus just on being human. Especially since Bella didn't have as many days of being human left. We needed time to be like we used to be, sisters who didn't worry about boy drama or fearing for our lives. We could just sit there and talk about things we used to like books or complain about normal things that happen at school.

Monday night, while I was busy studying for some of the finals I had on Wednesday, I had the perfect idea of how we could get back to those days, or at least, kinda.

"Come on, Bells, please? We never really get a chance to actually hang out together anymore," I whined as I leaned into the side of her bed, resting my cheek against her comforter and a notecard. "At last, not just the two of us."

Of course, as soon as I had had the idea it was my duty to inform my sisters. It wasn't because I was tired of studying. No… that would be selfish…

"I don't know, Alex. Edward probably won't go for it, he's already let me go over there last night. Plus, you'll be busy with your own finals then, don't you want to use the time to study?" Bella asked, her eyes never leaving her English notes.

I rolled my eyes before sitting up. "One, screw Edward. I have a plan for that. And two, I am willing to sacrifice my study time just for you because that's how awesome of a sister I am!"

Bella lowered her notes, raising an eyebrow at me. "There is no way Edward is going to let us have a fire on the beach alone, though, Alex."

"I never said we would be alone," I said slowly, "Jacob will be there, obviously, for protection."

"So we can spend 'alone time' together with your boyfriend but not mine?" Bella scoffed. "That seems a little unfair."

"Hey, it is not my fault that your boyfriend is an asshat and not mine. You actually like Jacob where as I still hate Edward. See the difference?" I asked before adding, "Besides, Jacob is less likely to talk about the vampire stalking problem than Edward. That old fart is always worrying about something." I looked up at her, pouting my lips and making my eyes as big and innocent as possible. "Pleeeeeeese big sister. Just one night of normalcy before you turn into you-know-what. That's all that I ask. Please."

I fluttered my eyelashes, not leaving my sister's gaze.

"I don't know, Alex…" she said wearily.

I huffed and dropped my hands loudly into my lap. "Bella, come on. It'll be like old times."

A loud breath escaped my sister's mouth as she sighed heavily as she gave in. "Fine, but only if you can actually get an okay from Edward. Now, can I go back to studying?"

"Yes!" I cried happily, pushing myself up and leaning across the bed so that I could kiss my sister on the cheek. "I promise, you are not going to regret this!"

Running out of the room, I crossed the hall and grabbed my phone from the nightstand. Moving aside my now forgotten study guides and note cards, I quickly searched through my contacts until I found the one I needed.

"Hey, Rosalie, it's me. Listen, I need a favor from you…"

* * *

When Wednesday rolled around, I was so scared that the weather was going to be terrible and rainy leaving my whole planned ruined. But when I woke up and looked out the window, I saw that it was actually a pretty nice day for Forks, Washington. I mean, it was still gray but not as cloudy so I didn't think that it was going to rain. So a small fire on the beach would be nice.

Throwing on a pair of black jeans and a plaid shirt I moved over to my vanity where I took a seat. I didn't feel like doing that much today so I just lined my eyes slightly and applied mascara before getting back up, grabbing my backpack, and heading downstairs to grab some breakfast before school.

Charlie and Bella were already down there when I arrived, dad reading the newspaper and working on a bowl of cereal while Bella nibbled on a piece of toast. I wasn't feeling that hungry seeing as my finals started today so I just grabbed a granola bar fro the pantry before walking over and joining my family at the table.

"So, Alex, are you ready for your finals?" Charlie asked, not even looking up from his paper. "They start for you today, right?"

"Yeah."

"How do you think you're going to do?"

I took a bite from my granola bar and sighed. "Probably not going to do as well as Bella. But I'm hoping to at least pass."

Dad folded up his paper and finished up his cereal before standing. "That's all the matters then. Good luck either way."

I waited until he was out of the door and had backed out of the driveway before turning to Bella. "Okay, so you hang out with Edward for an hour after school, but then you have to be home because we are going to go to La Push."

"Alright, I guess. How long will we be out?" she asked.

"Not too late, I promise. Unfortunately, I still have tests that I have to take the next two days so I _should_ probably study some more before bed," I muttered bitterly before adding. "And I've asked Rosalie to team up with Jasper and Emmett. They've already talked to Sparkle-Pants about letting you leave and go to La Push with me, but they'll be there in case he tries to back out."

I knew it probably wasn't the best idea to push my still forming friendship with Rosalie, but I knew that she was going to be the most persuasive. Out of the three vampires that I was really close with, she had the best chance of actually getting Edward to do what I wanted. Jasper and Emmett both understood that we would be safe so were willing to help.

"Alex, are you ever going to give him some slack or forgive him?" Bella asked as she went to place her plate in the sink next to Charlie's bowl.

I sat there, pretending to think about it for a moment before shaking my head. "Nope, I don't think I ever will."

She rolled her eyes at me before grabbing her backpack and throwing it over her shoulder. "Well, we should probably be going. We don't want to be late for a big day of test taking!"

"God, these next three days are going to suck," I grumbled as I grabbed my own backpack and followed her towards the door.

"Actually, this is my last day of tests so I think it's going to be pretty good," Bella said sarcastically, smiling over her shoulder at me.

I squinted at her, "Oh, that's low."

Bella didn't say anything else, she just laughed as she opened the door and headed over towards the truck.

* * *

"So, Bells, how do you feel now that you are a big old High School grad?" Jacob asked before taking a large bite out of his hot dog.

Emily had decided to do a sort of cookout for supper today and must have talked Sam into helping her out. It was kind of weird seeing Sam wearing an apron and standing behind a pair of two large grills flipping burgers and hot dogs while the rest of the pack sat nearby shoving their faces full with chips and deserts. Emily had just come out with a fresh tray of brownies when Bella and I pulled up. Of course, my sister had been a little late being dropped off, thanks a lot, Edward, but there was still some food to be had so I couldn't be too mad at her.

The Pack seemed a little disappointed that we wouldn't be staying and eating with them but understood quickly that we just wanted a nice night to ourselves. So after loading a couple plates full of food, and Sam calling a reminded to Jacob about that night's patrol, we headed out to the beach for a small fire, which is what we were sitting around right now.

"Not too different, actually," Bella answered as she picked at the chips on her plate. "But that might be because I'm finished with my tests but haven't actually graduated. Ask me again on Monday."

"Have any plans for college? The bloodsucker is going to let you go to college right?" Jacob asked.

I leaned over quickly and smacked him in the chest with the back of my hand. "Jakey! I told you not to do that! No vamp talk tonight! We're being normal, damn it."

"Right, sorry," Jacob muttered though he rolled his eyes. "But really, any plans for college?"

Bella turned her attention towards the fire, drawing her knees closer to her chest. "No, not really."

"What? No college? Have you just not heard anything back from anyone yet?"

Bella shook her head, "No. I mean, Edward helped me fill out some applications but I'm not really sure that it's going to be in the cards for me right away."

I got a bad feeling about where this conversation could possibly go so I quickly tried to change the subject. "I don't think it really matters right now. I mean, a lot of people wait a year before continuing with their education."

Instead of avoiding anything, the conversation died all together as we slipped into an uncomfortable silence after that. Bella continued to look at the fire while Jacob finished the rest of the food on his plate as well as what was left on mine. I didn't really feel much like eating anymore.

"So, Jakey," I started after a while, wanting to break the silence, "I know you're probably going to hate the idea, but I was wondering if you would like to go to this graduation party with me on Saturday?"

"What, is it for your friend Marshmallow?" Jacob asked, chuckling to himself softly, "I don't think he would want to see me."

"No, it's not _Mike's_ grad party that I'm inviting you too."

For the first time, Bella looked up from the fire and met my gaze. She knew which party I was referring to.

"I'm pretty sure you would rather go to Mike's party as opposed to the one my sister is talking about." A slight smirk appeared on Bella's face as she spoke; the slightly uncomfortable expression that had once covered her face disappearing.

Her answer caused Jacob to furrow his brows and look from me to Bella. "If it's not Marshmallow's party then who's is it?"

"Okay, so Alice wants to throw this big graduation party and so far, she is 50/50—not that I think this one will end up being like the last one—when it comes to parties. Anyway, seeing as it's a party for the whole senior class, of which I only know a handful, I thought that it would be more fun if you were there." I explained, not wanting to give him a chance to interrupt.

Jacob sat there, his lips tight. I could see him trying very hard not to say something about vampires. Which, I mean, he probably would have been justified seeing as I was asking him to come to a house where vampires live. As a werewolf, that would have had to make him uncomfortable. Pushing himself up so that he was now standing in front of us, he placed his hands on his hips before nodding his head. "Sure," he answered tightly.

Bella gave a smile at his answer. "It'll be nice to spend some more time with you before..." she stopped herself once she realized what she was saying.

"What do you mean?" Jacob asked.

"Nothing," Bella answered quickly.

I resisted the urge to face-palm. Why did everything seem to be so complicated lately?

Not about to let the subject be dropped yet again, Jacob pressed into my sister, wanting her to share whatever it was that she was trying to cover up.

"No, Bella. Why would it be nice to hang out some more? Before what? What's going on?"

"It's just. Um. I didn't think you would want to hang out with me after..." she trailed off again.

"After what?"

I pushed myself up and moved to stand next to Jacob, placing a hand on his upper arm. "You know what, Jake, I think we should just take a deep breath quick."

For the first time in a long time, Jacob looked down at me with an annoyed expression. "No, Lexi, you know that we don't keep secrets from one another. And I thought after filling Bella in on what she was being left out on, I thought that meant that the two of us wouldn't be keeping secrets from each other as well. Now I think I deserve to know what the hell is going on."

Bella sighed, thinking about how what Jacob said was true. He was one of her best friends, she thought of him like a brother, and he had been honest with her when Edward hadn't. She didn't want to keep secrets from him. She was just afraid of how he would react when he found out.

It looked like she was going to have to face him either way.

"Well, I mean, you do remember that I'm being changed after graduation, right?"

There was a seconds pause as Jacob processed the information quickly before tensing up. "What! That's still happening!"

"Of course, it's still happening, Jacob!" Bella said. "I haven't changed my mind."

Jacob's head snapped down to look at me, still standing next to him. "So does that mean you are going to be forced to change soon, too?" he snapped.

"What the hell, you know I'm trying to not be changed period." I shot back; offended that he would even ask me such a question. "I would tell you if there was any _possibility_ of a date being set for me."

Bella pushed herself up as well, feeling slightly uncomfortable with an angry Jacob more or less towering over her. "Jake, you knew this was coming, I don't understand why you are acting like this."

"I don't know! Because I thought you would come to your senses, Bells. You're only eighteen-years-old. You haven't even lived yet and you just can't wait to give that up for some bloodsucker!" Jacob yelled, throwing up his hands in defeat.

"Hey!" Bella cried, "I've made my decision a long time ago, just like Alex has made hers. You know what, you don't have to like it, but as my friend, Jacob, I would have thought you would at least, at_ least_ be a little bit understanding!"

As she spoke, Bella took a few steps towards Jacob, pointing a finger at him. I moved so that I stood to the side, ready to jump in the middle if anything were to happen.

"I'm sorry, Bella, but I can't. I can't understand why you are so willing to end your life for him. That seems to be pretty huge for someone who says they care about you and then leaves you in the woods," Jacob shot back.

Bella shook her head, tears building up in her eyes. "I am sick and tired of that being shoved back in my face. Edward did that to protect me. He_ wanted_ me to live a life without him, I just couldn't. So, if you really want to be technical, it was my fault! I need him like you like to say you need Alex. How is that any different?"

"Because I'm not trying to kill, Lexi! That's how! God, it just makes me sick thinking about it! If you want to die so bad, I wish you would just stay dead. Because seeing you buried in the ground is a hell of a lot better than seeing you as one of them!"

What happened next, seem to take hours. My mouth fell open at my boyfriend's words, unable to believe that they had actually escaped his lips. Bella's, on the other hand, tightened. Her eyes set and before I knew what was happening, she was drawing back her arm before quickly snapping it out towards Jacob.

Her fist connected solidly with his jaw... and the crunching sound that followed was enough to make even me cry out in pain.

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**Authors Note**: I'm so sorry that this chapter is a long time coming but I hope that it was at least worth some of the wait. I'm hoping this summer will be a lot better for me posting wise. I don't want to go and promise that I'm going to update a certain day every week because I don't think that is going to happen. Instead, I am going to try and post at least twice a month. That seems a little more manageable to me because I do have, like, the next three of four chapters planned out, I just need time to write them. We're getting into some interesting stuff, finally. I'm kinda of excited. And I know you might not want to hear this, or maybe you do, I don't know. But I've got an idea for a Jasper/oc story that I'm in the middle of figuring out. It would be separate from this one and right now would be set before Twilight so we wouldn't have to deal with book or movie stuff. Just free to have all sorts of Jasper/oc moments. I guess what I'm looking for is to see if that would be something you guys are interested in. I'll have a new poll up on my profile. So please either take that or let me know what think in a review. That would be awesome! Thanks for all the reviews last chapter and I hope to post another chapter soon for your all!


	12. Heart to Heart

**Chapter Twelve: Heart to Heart**

Our graduation celebration on the beach pretty much ended after that. Jacob put out the fire while I helped my sister, who was muttering curses under her breath, back to Emily's house and our truck. When he was finished, he met up with us and insisted on driving us home so that I could comfort Bella and help keep her hand stabilized. We had no idea if it was broken, but the sound it had made when it connected with Jacob's jaw didn't sound good.

As soon as we had entered town, a pair of headlights came screeching behind us, following so close that you would think he was attached to our bumper.

"Oh great, Sparkle Pants is behind us," I muttered under my breath. As soon as we had left Jacob on the beach, Alice must have gotten a vision about what had happened and told Edward. I wondered if that's why Jacob insisted on driving us home. Or that could have been because Victoria was still a threat.

Either way, things were about to get interesting… or very messy.

"Good, he's going to have to take me to see Carlisle," Bella said through gritted teeth. "_Someone_ is going to have to look at my hand."

"Hey, no one said you had to go around throwing punches," I snapped.

Pulling into the driveway, we hadn't even opened the door before Edward was there, helping Bella out of the truck before turning to look at Jacob, who had also gotten out, over the truck.

"Not here, Edward," Bella said, placing her left hand on her boyfriend's chest to keep him from moving around the truck. "Please."

"Jake," I said warningly, holding onto his wrist from where I was still seated in the truck. I hated being stuck in the middle cause it always took me longer to get out.

Oh course, neither boy listened to us and moved towards one another, meeting in front of the truck. The lights were still on and shone brightly against them, casting shadows over half of their faces as they glared at one another.

"If you ever bring her back in less than perfect condition again—" Edward started, his voice so low and threatening that it caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand up.

"Maybe Bella shouldn't be the one throwing punches," Jacob interrupted, crossing his arms over his chest.

Bella and I quickly moved to place ourselves in the middle of the two. My sister turned to her boyfriend, placing her hands on his chest as she spoke to him. "It doesn't matter, let's just go see Carlisle." She then turned to look over her shoulder at Jacob. "Jake, go."

"Maybe she's right, Jacob. Maybe you should go," I said slowly, looking up into his dark brown eyes.

Jacob looked at me for a moment, confusion written on his face. "Really, Lexi?"

There was no time to answer as Charlie walked out of the house and made his way over to us, probably drawn by the loud voices of Edward and Jacob. "Hey, guys, let's calm down a little, yeah? What's going on?"

He looked from me to Bella and took in how she was holding her wrist. "What happened?"

"I may have said something that pissed Bella off and she hurt her hand…. trying to punch me in the face," Jacob said, "I ducked out of the way and she hit the wall behind me."

Now, I know that Charlie liked Jacob a lot more than Edward. But the look my father gave my boyfriend was unlike anything I had ever seen before. It was ten times worse than the look I got when I accidentally broke the living room window when I was six. Jacob, who was taller and bulkier than Charlie, shrank away slightly as well.

"Boy, you're like family to me but I won't hesitate to shoot you if you hurt one of my girls again,"

Charlie warned him. "I'm done with boys hurting my girls."

"Dad." Bella and I chorused, drawing out the word.

Charlie didn't back down, though, just stared at the two boys. In the end, it was Bella reminding everyone about her wrist that broke the uncomfortable silence. Edward was quick to usher her to his car, his hand never leaving her lower back until she was safely tucked away in his car. Charlie, Jacob, and I watched them go before moving into the house. It wasn't much better in there though as both Charlie and Jacob were now in bad moods. Charlie wanted to know exactly what had happened, but given the subject matter, we couldn't give it to him. Instead, we decided to stick to a subject that would more than likely calm my dad down the quickest, and that was saying that Jacob had insulted Edward.

He still didn't seem to like the idea of Bella hurting her hand, but he still didn't really like Edward so he just kind of let the subject die. Grabbing a beer, he shook his head at us before moving into his room. Jacob was still mad, but not to the point where a phase threatened to happen. Together, we sat at the dinner table and I spoke to him calmly until his temper lessened. Once that happened, he left to go on patrol. I stayed at the kitchen table for a moment before getting up and going out to the truck. I needed to apologize to my sister. I told her that it was just going to be a normal day without any problems and it ended with her hurting her hand. We had left the keys in the ignition, but Jacob must have turned it off before he left. Bringing the loud beast to life, I headed down the street and made my way towards the Cullen house.

Like always, it was hard for me to find the turn-off, but I soon made it and awkwardly let myself into the house. No one came to meet me, which was weird. Walking up the stairs and into the living room, I saw Rosalie and Bella standing outside on the deck and it looked like they were having a pretty intense conversation. Not wanting to interrupt, I moved to the couch and took a seat.

I wasn't seated long before a pair of strong pale arms grabbed my waist and I was being lifted from the couch. I knew right away who it was, but that didn't stop breath from catching in my throat.

"Why do you always do that?" I growled as soon as Emmett set me back down on my feet. I turned around a gave his chest a quick hit, though I knew it felt more like a mosquito than anything to him.

Emmett just smiled. "So I heard your sister fractured her hand punching your "boyfriend" in the face."

"So it's fractured?" I asked, ignoring the way Emmett said the word 'boyfriend'. I guess that wasn't as bad as breaking it completely.

"Yeah. Carlisle gave her the once over, stuck her in a brace. Other than that she's fine," Emmett answered, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the back of the couch.

I nodded my head before looking around the empty house. In the past when I had stopped by, the others would come and say hi as well. I understood that Rosalie was out talking to Bella but it was strange that no one was here except for Emmett.

"What are the others up too?"

"Well Edwards off waiting for Bella, Esme and Carlisle went out for a quick bite, and Alice and Jasper are up in their room."

I looked down, slightly surprised. Jasper was the one I was the closest with. If he was home, why hadn't he come down to say hi? I had to admit, it hurt me. Emmett must have picked up on what I was feeling because his voice got softer than I have ever heard it. Lowering himself to my level, he placed a hand on my shoulder and looked me straight in the eye.

"I'm going to be honest with you, Al. This summer has been hard on us, some more so than others. We may be vampires, but we do still have feelings. And when you stopped coming around and shut us out, well, that hurt. I think Jasper took it the hardest. You know how hard it is for him to be around humans, how new this lifestyle still is to him. You make things easier for him, like if he can be around you, he can eventually be more like himself around others instead of having his guard up all the time."

At his words, I begin to think back to the last couple of months. I could remember now just how stiff he's been lately. More like when I first saw him in the cafeteria when Bella and I had first moved to Forks. A pang of guilt flooded through me. I had been so focused on my own hurt that I hadn't ever really taken the time to think about how my actions would affect those around me. And then I start to come around again and more or less act like nothing had really happened. That just wasn't right.

Throwing my arms around Emmett's cold body, I buried my head in his chest and held on tight. "I'm so sorry that I let my feelings get the better of me these last couple of months. I've been a terrible friend, punishing you guys away even though you really weren't to blame."

"Hey, it's okay, Al. This is all kind of new to us too. We're not used to making a lot of connections with people. If anything, now we know how it felt when you had to leave you."

"Exactly, that sucked. I just feel bad that I did the same thing to you guys." I gave my head a quick shake as I pulled away from Emmett. "I should probably go and apologize to Jasper too. Tell Bella I'm here and to wait for me, okay?"

"Will do, Al."

Giving him a quick smile, I turned and started making my way towards the stairs. I'd been up to Jaspers room a few times, seen all the vintage maps and guns that he had on display where Alice would let him. But every time I never felt as awkward as I do now. I feet feel heavy as I made my way up the steps and down the hall. When I finally came to a stop in front of their bedroom door, I paused trying to work up the courage to knock.

I never got the chance to decide as, without warning, Alice pulled open the door.

"Hi, Alex! He's waiting for you," Alice informed me with a smile before dancing past me and down the hall. I should have known that she would have seen me coming. Or hell, maybe they both heard me talking to Emmett downstairs. Either way, it was time for me to suck it up and face Jasper.

Entering the room, Jasper had his back to me as he looked out the large window that made up the back wall. Taking a deep breath, I walked forward until I was next to him.

"Hi, Jasper."

"Alex." He didn't even bother looking at me.

I winced slightly without meaning too. "So… I really don't know how to say this in a way that expresses my feelings, but I'm just so sorry Jasper. So very sorry for the way that I've been acting these last few months. Ignoring you the way I have. I was so selfish." Reaching out, I gently rested my hand on his arm. "People forgive me."

Jasper continued to stand there stiffly for a moment before releasing the tension he had been holding in his shoulders. Instantly, a calming warmth began to spread through my body and I felt myself begin to relax as well. A smile slowly tugged at the corner of my lips as a realized what the feeling meant.

"I really am so sorry for how I've treated you, Jasper," I said softly, "You've never done anything to deserve that."

"I guess I should probably apologize too, then. Because I can't really say that you are to blame for your reaction. We should have filled you in on what was going on before the vote. And believe me, it wasn't Alice's intention to include you this fate."

A sigh escaped my mouth. "I understand that it wasn't her intention, I don't blame Alice for trying to save Bella and Edward. It just sucks that everything had to happen the way that it did, you know? Like, I know that you guys didn't really have a choice in the matter when all of you were turned, but I never thought it would happen to me, you know? Sure there was a time when I thought it would be fun to be like you, never age. But now I have someone in my life that truly means the world to me and I don't want to give that up. I don't want to live forever if it means that I can't be with him."

Jasper looked down at me, a sad expression on his face. "I know exactly what you mean, Alex."

Pulling me close, his cold arms wrapped around me and I rested my head against his stone chest. It felt nice to finally get that off my chest; to reconnect with both Emmett and Jasper. We held onto one another for a moment longer before finally letting go. Taking a deep breath, I smiled up at him before turning towards the door.

"Well, I came here originally to apologize to Bella for such a crappy night but I'm glad I got to reconnect with you and Emmett. I should probably see how she's doing, though."

Jasper gave a small chuckle before nodding his head. "Yes, you should probably go check on her. Though, I must admit that we are all rather impressed."

"Yeah, yeah, she punched a wolf. Unlucky for her she's a lot more breakable than you guys."

Jasper gave another chuckle as I turned and started to make my way out of the room.

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**Authors Note**: I'm back! I just have to say that I'm really happy how this chapter turned out. I love that we are finally getting to see Alex making up with both Emmett and Jasper! The poor guys have really missed her. Thanks so much to everyone who has been reviewing during this long gap between updates. It sucks that I can never seem to get on a set posting schedule anymore. But just know that I do plan on completing this story. Though not every chapter has been planned out, I do have a finished timeline for how I want things to go down. Plus, we need to reach the point where we answer the very important question of "does Alex get turned into a vampire or not?". I have no idea when I will be able to post the next chapter, though I do have that one all plotted out. But just know that it will be coming at some point. And I am still working on a Jasper/oc story because that boy needs so proper love and attention! I've got two different ideas that could be very interesting so we'll have to see. That's all for now, my lovely readers! See you next time!


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